Goodbye Earth !
by Dixxy
Summary: This story takes back the full plot of the famous last MBC episode. Part of the dialogs is fictionalized. It's as faithful as possible to the original. For those of you who didn't get the chance to watch GOODBYE EARTH on TV : N'JOY ! (Dedicated to Masterminor)
1. Foreword

**G O O D B Y E E A R T H**

**0. Foreword**

Hello People ! Name's Léo and I'm publishing here my second story on FanFiction..

I dedicate this work to user _**MASTERMINOR**_, who had been asking me if I could fictionalize the last MBC episode, GOODBYE EARTH. Your Friendship, my dear, fills my heart with endless happiness.

I also would like to send all Love and Respect to my other 2 friends, users _**HAHLI NUVA**_ and _**BLOOD-OF-SILVER**_, which Friendship is an everyday gift. Thanks 4 everything, guys !

That episode is still vivid in my memory and I will do my best to make the stuff as faithful as possible to the original. For your information, it's mostly constituted of flashbacks on the kids, flashbacks showing who they are and how they behaved in the past.

You can send me as many reviews as you want, I'll try to answer as many as I have the time to, but careful : I'm NOT gonna answer negative reviews that wouldn't be constructive at all. In other words, should any reviewers have purely nasty words regarding my work, I'm going to ignore their messages. But if it's thoughtful, constructive criticism, ok for an answer.

I hope that, with this story, all those who have missed that last MBC episode will have a clear idea of what happened with the "Famous Four" that last time.

My kind regards to all the MBC fans !

Léo


	2. Unexpected Menace

**I. UnexpectedMenace**

""

Hugo Smith was humming an old Rhapsodian tune as he rested in the MBC control room, laid back in the seat usually occupied by Chris, his legs stretched over the control panel, feet crossed above the multicoloured buttons.

The past days had been really calm for the Monster Buster Club. _Unusually_ calm. Seemed like the naughty aliens willing to use Earth for their evil plans had unexpectedly decided to grant the MBC a little break… before attacking twice more aggressive than before ? Hopefully not.

But on the other hand, this period was getting almost boring, so a bit of action would be very welcome.

Yes, some action would indeed have been really appreciable. Goofing off is fine, but when you goof off every day… it starts to get annoying after a while. The kids sure would agree with him.

By the way, thinking of the kids… where were they ?

"Ayaaaah !" screamed Cathy.

"Wooohoooo !" shouted Danny.

"Goooo !" yelled Chris.

"Yeaaaah !" shrilled Sam.

The "Famous Four" were in their MBC spacecrafts, hovering in the underground tunnels. Since they had nothing better to do, not even homework, they had decided to race together, and the first one to reach the headquarters would get invited to the pizzeria that evening. The most motivated was Cathy, whose Top 3 favourite food included pizza (rank 2), followed close by Danny, always in for some junk food, if possible double cheeseburgers.

The spacecrafts flew like flashes of lightning in the desert tunnels and soon neared the basis. Sam was still first, but Danny was close behind, trying to overtake her unnoticed. The MBC leader did her best to keep the lead, but it was quite tricky to predict Danny's moves. Just a few minutes more to remain focused and…

"Ah ah ah, gotcha, Sammy !" howled Danny as he emerged in front of her teammate. He had sneaked under her ship, taking advantage of her neglecting to remain low in order to avoid any "attack" from below, and just rose quickly before her after stepping on the gas.

"Oh no ! Not now !" Sam shrieked. How could she have been that careless as to fly too high and leave a path underneath for that little daredevil ? It was just a godsend for him ! She had to overtake him again or he would win. But there was so little time left…

The red spacecraft reached the basis a few seconds later. The yellow one landed almost simultaneously. Danny ran to the pod, Sam imitating him on her side. He got inside his first, only 2 or 3 seconds before her. They both rose swiftly as the duct sucked them up to the control room.

"Tadaaaaa !" the Jock triumphantly let out as he landed on the ground of the headquarters. The African American girl walked in only a very short while after him and sighed : "Well, I guess I can't deny your victory, right ? Well done, Flash !

Flash ?

Yeah. You know, that guy who moves as fast as a flash of lightening. We saw the movie last week.

Ah, sure ! Remember him ! Well, eh eh… The Danny can outdo anybody. Even you, girl !

Ah, come on, stop doing the macho !"

Cathy and Chris arrived in the departure pod room just in this moment. And they smiled when they saw their teammates once again arguing. Chris couldn't help making a remark : "Eh eh, still bickering, folks ! What about, this time ?" Sam playfully made believe she was mad at Danny when she answered, in a fake outraged tone : "Oh, it's simply Mister Modest here who once again is showing off…" And she smirked at Mr Modest, who now was staring at her rival with wide open eyes. "Hey, Sam, you must admit I beat you ! Didn't I ?" His tone seemed almost scandalized. She gave a wink, whispered : "Hum, whatever…" and grinned wide.

And with that, she walked on to the automatic door leading to the main room.

"Hi, Grandpa ! How's it going ?

Hello, kids ! Well, not much to do here. No alarm. No fishy signal. Nothing.

Hum, looks like we're gonna have another of those long quiet days…" sighed Chris.

Barely had he uttered these words that the red alert launched. The four fighters suddenly turned their gazes at the supercomputer, and the freckled geek caught a seat, sat down in front of his keyboard and started typing madly. Infos rapidly scrolled down the screen and Sam narrowed her eyes at the text going by. What could it be this time ?

Just then, the full clubhouse started shaking tremendously. It seemed as if a hurricane had just wrapped the headquarters in its powerful embrace and was putting all its strength to breaking it apart. All the members felt their blood freeze in their veins. It lasted a good while then stopped. Everything was back to normal. Or so it appeared, at least. Were things really normal again ? There seemed to be a slight motion going on, somewhere.

"Well, anything that is trying to menace our city, it's gonna get busted in no time ! The sooner the better ! I don't wanna miss that pizza that you guys will reward me with tonight !" said Danny on a tone he tried to make joking, to ease up the situation a bit. But he wasn't as much self-confident as before. He all the same threw a side glance at Sam to check her reaction.

But the golden-eyed girl didn't react. She looked around the room and her eyes rolled from side to side, her position clearly a defensive and analytic one. She didn't notice what the red member was saying. The latter felt a tad disappointed that his "target" hadn't listened to him, which made his teasing fall flat. But he could understand his friend was worried, after that mini earthquake. He kind of was as well. Where did that shaking come from ?

Nevertheless, if Sam didn't answer anything, Danny still got a reaction, and that was from Chris. He had his face hypnotized by the screen… and his face had got paler, although no one had actually noticed this ! "Hum, Danny… I don't think they deliver pizza where we're heading to…"

Cathy's voice expressed sheer surprise : "Where we're heading to ? But… we're in the clubhouse, Chris ! We're heading nowhere right now !" The tech turned to her, an anguished expression plastered onto his features : "Check by yourself, Cath'…"

The Rhapsodian drew near, imitated by the Leader and the Jock, and they all watched what was displayed on the giant screen of the supercomputer. It took a few seconds for the exact meaning of the 3D animation to be fully understood, but once it was, all faces had turned as pale as Chris's. And goosebumps crawled onto their suddenly cold skins.

The movements that were taking place on the screen showed a red point moving upward and exiting a kind of round envelope. The red point symbolized the clubhouse and the round envelope… Sam's eyes sprang as wide as they could and she flinched as a flash of premonition lit up her mind.

The next minute, she ran to the window and saw exactly what she dreaded. She gulped very uneasily and the goosebumps seemed to grow more intense on her skin. She was soon joined by the other members, and all of them gasped when they saw what was outside.

Instead of the garden they used to know, where Mr. Smith kept all kinds of rare and peculiar flowers, there was an enormous ball, with blue parts, beige parts and white parts. And of course this ball was very familiar to the four kids. They had seen the same one on TV, in a documentary on rocket expeditions. As for Mr Smith, he had contemplated it as well, long ago, when he was on board of a Rhapsodian spacecraft and looked for a location where he could safely land.

This huge multicoloured sphere was usually a magnificent spectacle for humans, but today, for the MBC team, it was a terrible one, due to the implications it connected with.

That ball was the Earth, and it was becoming slowly but surely smaller, and smaller, and smaller through the window they watched from…

The clubhouse had just exited from the earthly atmosphere and was diving into the endless black ocean of outter space, dotted with innumerable sparkles which now got closer and closer !


	3. Quarantined !

**II.****Quarantined****!**

Space ! They were shooting into space like a lost bullet, like a cannonball spat out of the Earth's gigantic mouth. What would become of them outta there ?

"Oh my God ! Why is all this happening ? Where are we going to ?" asked a frightened Cathy. The joyful and exuberant alien had now turned into a worried one, which got very preoccupied about the fate of their team in the great void of the universe.

"Calm down, Cath' ! We're gonna find an answer and a solution to it !" Sam answered in a determined voice, although she was herself pretty worried about the event. "We always do, don't we ?"

Cathy looked at her. The yellow member smiled at the pink member, to reassure her. Cathy felt a little better, knowing that Sam was there to sort out this dangerous situation. But fear crept on somewhere inside her, and there was for now no way to get rid of it.

"Mister Smith, what's going on ? Do you have any idea ?

Well, no, Danny, I don't know. But maybe we could try to use the supercomputer to…"

Just then, a part of the said computer slid away, revealing a hole. And out of it flew a metal ball, which then came to a standstill in the middle of the control room, at the same heights of the humans' heads. Then a robotic voice was heard : **"SECURITY BREECH – ALIEN PRESENCE DETECTED WITHIN CONTROL ROOM – QUARANTINE PROCESS ACTIVATED – WILL BE CARRIED ON UNTIL ALIEN TRACES ELIMINATED"**

The four teenagers and the old Rhapsodian stared at each other, hoping that someone could give an explanation about what had just been uttered. But nobody spoke up. Incomprehension could be seen on all features. Alien presence ? But where ?

"Mr Smith, you told us that, while you were on guard duty here, no alien signal was detected anywhere and no alarm got activated. Right ?

Yes, Sam. And I didn't get asleep, that I'm sure of ! I don't understand this.

Nobody does, Mr Smith. What is sure now is that the clubhouse got sent into space following a quarantine procedure. And it seems the quarantine will last until the alien is located and gotten rid of. So we have to search the whole room for it !" said Chris.

He got back to his keyboard and typed some more. The goal was to find where exactly the alien traces had been noticed. And the answer to that wasn't long to be known, as the mechanical voice announced : **"ALIEN RESIDUES LOCATED IN HUMAN ORGANISMS – ALL ORGANISMS TO BE CLEARED FROM RESIDUES FOR QUARANTINE TO END"** And up on the screen, four familiar silhouettes appeared, and there were red and yellow spots scattered everywhere on each of them.

The hunters were looking up to the giant screen, at their own pictures altered with these colours stains. They just didn't get it.

"Are these spots… alien traces ?" asked Danny in a most dubious tone. Chris turned to him and his serious look made it clear he was to announce something important : "Well, yes, they are. And the infection percentage is high, more than 80% for each of us ! And we'll have to find a way to get rid of these in order to put a stop to that quarantine and therefore have our clubhouse sent back to Earth."

After these words were spoken, a general silent settled, that seemed to endlessly stretch on and on. Minds were too busy analyzing the situation, so mouths were temporarily mute. And after what looked like an eternity, somebody spoke up at last :

"But… how did we ever get infected, Chris ?

Well, that's the great question, Sam. I can't recall any occasion on which we got in contact with an alien all at the same time. And you, folks ?

Hum… nooo… I don't think I can recall neither… You Danny ?

Let me think, Cathy… Well… Hum… Hum… No, no such memory. But then, what could have happened ?"

And it was the only silent figure up to now to answer that question : "My feeling is that these alien residues haven't been collected all at the same time, but gradually, each of you gaining new traces as another alien touched you, then another one, and so on. The number of extraterrestrial spots on your bodies has increased bit by bit, until the major percentage of your organisms were infected."

The teenagers all faced Mr. Smith as he ended up his speech. "So, we've been regularly in direct contact with aliens, to get that much altered ?" Sam phrased, and this perfectly summed up the question that everybody has on their lips, waiting for utterance.

Chris was reflecting, taking all his time to gather the memories. "Hum, if we think back of all the times we have been touched by outer space enemies, I'm pretty sure that we can enumerate a good ten times, at least. I don't have them all in my mind right now, still…

Like when, for instance ?" Danny sure had difficulty to believe any of it.

"Like at Halloween, when you got licked by that giant alien with its big green eye. ("**Trick Or Treat... Or Alien**") Or last month, when I got my arm sucked up into that rocketed pig's mouth who devoured everything he could. ("**Princess Sam**") Sam once touched Cathy's shoulder and found blue goo on her hands, which was from sticky Gluten. ("**The Trouble With Troublemaking**") And Cathy herself got caught by that stone alien who wanted to take her away ("**The Beast Within**"). So, you see, we've pretty much all been in contact with aliens, and more times than I mentioned."

They all got thinking, trying to remember when they could have been touched by outer space monsters. Then Sam asked the essential question : "So what are we gonna do now ?" They all stared at each other, motionless. What, indeed ?


	4. The Jock makes it

**Hey People ! I owe you loads of thanks for your positive critics ! They are really heart-warming and encouraging ! That's marvelous to read your reviews ! Thanks for supporting me that much ! I particularly would like to express my gratitude to Joshua and Lauren for their most kind words. You ROCK, guys !**

**And I also wave hello to Destiny and Ana, who are great friends too ! Hugs to ya !**

**Now, zigzag your way through this new chappy. Hope you'll like it ! Here we GO !**

**III. TheJockmakesit**

Mr Smith got thinking, then he looked at each member in turn and finally announced : "I can cure you… well, I _think_ I could, at least ! I'll have to recite some rhapsodian spell while performing a rhapsodian dance. It will last a few minutes, but it might work out."

Cathy smiled wide and shouted : "Great, Grandpa ! You're the best ! I knew you could find a solution !" And she jumped to his neck to show her gratitude. The white-haired man hugged his granddaughter and rejoiced with her, then he looked at her and said in a serious tone :

"Careful, Schloumba ! I'm not completely sure it will function. I _hope_ it will, but we still have to check that !

"Oh, come on, I'm sure it will be okay. You always know how to fix things, Grandpa !"

"Well, most of the time, yes. But one is never too cautious !"

"I'm confident."

"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but what is Schloumba, exactly ?"

"Ah, that... Well, see Dan', it's a sweet word mature Rhapsodians use for their children. It's like when you say "my little angel" or "sweety" to your human kids."

"Ah, okay Cath', I see..."

"Hum, sorry a second time to interrupt, but I think we should start with the cure process and not waste any minute. While we're up there in space, there might be trouble on Earth with evil aliens on the loose, so we better hurry back home !"

"Yeah, you're right, Sam. We have to do quick. Mr Smith, can we begin with your curing spell ?"

"Sure, Chris. So, who wants to go first ?"

Before anybody could utter anything, Danny made a step forward. He had a decided look on his face. But he then smiled and said : "Well, given that I won the race we were making, I think I may go first…" he trailed off and turned to watch the rest of the team, his eyes lingering on Sam, who he had beaten by short in the race, and ended up his sentence : "… if that's okay with you, of course !"

Cathy and Chris didn't breathe a word, seeing as Danny made his stare insistent on the leader, to gain her approval. They turned their gazes to her. She looked at her teammate, arms crossed, a slight frown showing her almost imperceptible upset. Then she sighed and expressed her thoughts in a moderate way : "Yeah, like you want. As long as we all get cured and can have our headquarters landed back to Earth without any further delay". And she gave Mister Modest, like she had called him before, a knowing look that said a lot by itself.

The Jock felt a tad uneasy, as he understood that he had managed to annoy Sam more that he actually planned to. "Hum, yeah… right… hum… so, do we start, Mr Smith ?

"Of course, we will. Just stand motionless there and I'll do the rest.

"Great ! I can't wait to get back home. I really miss Wendy…

"Yeah, sure. You're so mad about her. Still, never got why exactly…

"Oh, come on, Chris ! Don't be a killjoy !

"I'm not being one. But I really don't understand _why_ you like her that much.

"Well…"

And Danny started to remember all those times, those so numerous times when he did everything he could to draw Wendy's attention to him.

He would always talk to her in the most cheerful way, a large grin plastered onto his features, trying to be as obliging as possible, always doing his best to please her, no matter what service she asked him. The blond preppy girl could have demanded him to carry her to school each day in his arms, he'd probably have done it !

In fact, should one wonder where Danny's nicety to Wendy could possibly stop, the likely answer would have been : nowhere. It was just "stronger than him". When the "like" repeater was around… well, Danny couldn't really act normally ! He became someone else.

And once, he had even earned a kiss from her. It meant she liked him, didn't it ? That was a magical moment, he felt like floating in the...

"That's funny, because she has never showed you that much affection. As far as I remember, she was rather upset about your actions." Cathy indeed had a dubious expression.

"Oh yeah, really ? Like when ?" Danny sure didn't like the way her alien friend talked.

"Hum, like when you brought her tiny dog back to her place and he was running in circles ("**Dog Daze**"). She was quite mad at you that day, wasn't she ?"

"Humpf, that stupid dog ! He blew away the thanks and smiles I should have received from Wen' on bringing her her dog back !"

Chris guffawed. "Wen' ? Waow, somebody makes it intimate, here !" Danny threw him a glare and said, a sulking mask over his face : "Anyway, she's Wen' to me. Laugh if you want." And this made Chris stop and a smile replace his laughter. The blue tech' went on :

"Well, your Wen' didn't like it when the two of you were supposed to work on a project and you didn't do a thing, while she believed you had had many A's because of what you had told her. ("**The Whole Truth**") She got a bad grade "thanks to" you. Was she that sweet and loving, that day ?"

"Oh, gimme a break ! It was all the fault of that damn ray that John had screwed up. I couldn't focus on the work coz of all these exercises I was forced to do when... hum... lying..."

Sam brought her own stuff in the discussion : "And since we mentioned Matisse, Wendy's dog, I can also recall that she got very unhappy with your "dog teaching", when you were supposed to make it the most well-educated animal for the Best Pet Competition ("**Silly Human Tricks**"). She thought you had hardly ever taught the dog anything new."

Danny took a deep breath and looked sulkingly to each of his mates in turn. Nobody had had nice words to him regarding his relationship with Wendy. Why were they that naughty ?

"Fine, fine, fine !" he yelled. "There were a few times when it didn't work out that well. But you must still admit she was impressed when I performed magical tricks !" ("**Disappearing Act**").

They all took a deep thought and tried to recall the details.

Wedge had supposedly become a magician and Danny had begged him to take him as assistant. Things hadn't got too bad, until the MBC (save Danny...) had found out that the lizard had in fact planned to take Singletown away, in outer space (just where they were now heading to...). And while Sam, Cathy and Chris were fighting that deceiving reptile, the Jock had received the mission to entertain the audience so that no on suspected the danger outside.

And "The Danny" had started to use the magic wand of Wedge to impress Wendy, who she had asked on stage as participant. He at first hadn't figured out how to make it work, then he had given it a try on Wendy and... had made her feet size double ! Everybody had burst out laughing, and the blond girl had given Danny her worst look ever ! He had managed to take back her feet back to normal, though.

Later on, he had given her a blue flower, and when she had smelled it, her hair had turned... blue ! She hadn't noticed, and had gone dreamily away, smiling at the flower, but when she would have noticed, some while later... Danny had ran away on the spot, when he had noticed what blunder he had just been making again !

And there also was this coin he had tried to make her appear from behind her ear, and which had fell in the back of her shirt, causing her to squirm to get it out. She had then scornfully said that these weren't real tricks but only "boys's silly jokes". The Jock was despondent.

All in all, the "impressive tricks" of Danny hadn't charmed Wendy as much as he thought...

"Hum, yeah, sure... I recall all of your magical successes. They had been... very convincing indeed !" Sam then smirked and gave a wink. Cathy guffawed and Chris soon followed. Danny had a grumpy expression on his face. They made fun of him and Wen' ! How did they ever dared to ? He had to demand for apologies at once.

"Listen, you bunch of pots..."

But just then, Mr Smith ended his odd dance and equally odd song, pointed both fingers at Danny and froze, peculiar words slipping out of his mouth : "Sheratounodul !"

The red member then felt his body swarming with shivers, then he became all hot the next minute, then it seemed to him that electric flashes got out of his organism. The upper part of his body quickly moved on the right, then on the left, and he then got all stiff, vertical as a stake, arms stuck against his sides. And he remained there for a while, until...

"**ALIEN RESIDUES SUCCESSFULLY CLEARED FROM HUMAN ORGANISM"**

And on the supercomputer screen, an horizontal line appeared at the bottom, drifted up, and while the pictures of Sam, Cathy and Chris remained unchanged, Danny's one shifted from multicolorly-stained to normal. No red, yellow or green spots anymore.

"YES ! GREAT ! I'M CURED !" the "offshower" **(A/N : my own made-up word to refer to one who shows off...)** screamed at the top of his voice. "Ah ah, see ? You've been making fun of me, but I'm still the first one out of this mess. Now, say what, mockers ?"

"We're VERY happy for you ! That's GREAT ! Oh, thanks, Grandpa !" Cathy cheered.

"Eh eh, you're welcome ! My pleasure !" the old Rhapsodian answered, and bowed funnily.

"Yes, we may have been scoffing earlier, but it's true we rejoice for you, Danny !" the black girl said, with a sincere smile stretching her mouth.

"Hum, thanks ! The Danny never misses anyway !" the Jock let out triumphantly.

"Ah no, not again showing off ! We have no time for that anyway !"

"Relax, Sammy ! Everything's gonna be fine ! Mr Smith will cure you as well. Isn't it, Mr Smith ?"

"Yes, of course I will. And speaking of curing, we need to carry on while success is on our side, don't you think ? So, who's next ?"


	5. Tech's next

**Hello hello, Folks ! Your continuous encouraging me + congratulating me for my story is so much of a motivation ! You really make my days ! My endless gratitude to you ! I thank whoever has already reviewed my story, and in advance those who will. But of course my warmest feelings fly uppermost to the hearts of 4 amazing people : **

**JOSHUA / ANA / DESTINY / LAUREN**

**L.**

**TECH'S NEXT **

Cathy walked over to Chris and put her hand onto his shoulder. "It should be Chris, Grandpa. The MBC owes a lot to his gadgets. Where would be without him ?" Chris smiled to Cathy and told her this : "Why, thank you, Cath' ! Your compliments go straight to my heart ! But, you know, I'm just doing my job. I'm so much into technology that it sounds logical for me to take care of our equipment. But I don't work miracles neither, you know…"

Sam made a step forward, a gentle smile on her lips. "Well, no, maybe you don't, but Cathy is right : we're much indebted to you regarding our gear, and since all of our weapons depends on technology, you are a very precious help to the MBC. Thank you, Chris !"

The blue member blushed a bit when she had finished speaking. He felt very slightly uneasy regarding all those gratitude signs he didn't expect. Modest as he was, he usually tried to keep low profile and never showed off, unlike the other male teammate, and always felt the need to put his merits into perspective, the teamwork being always primary, his own deeds secondary. So, receiving these praises, all of a sudden… it was unusual to him !

But the girls were right. Chris was an invaluable member, since he was the combination of a technology specialist _and_ a fighter. He therefore assumed two roles in the MBC, and notably the key one of "equipment manager". He was like a cornerstone in the team, and all were aware of that.

He had helped them getting infos about monsters, thus giving the MBC an advantage over their foes, he had helped up fixing defective weapons, he had created new useful devices, he had managed to locate either enemies or abducted team members, he had updated their MBV and spacecrafts with new gadgets to enhance their speed and location abilities, he had continuously searched for any relevant datas to take up the Club's chances to neutralize evil aliens. Yes, he continually went through loads and loads of work, and this work gave the team the upper hand on their foemen. Chris definitely was a trump for the MBC !

"But, you know, I'm not perfect either. I've been doing mistakes, remember ? That cell phone mix up, for instance ("**Wrong Number**"). This got us in a very bad situation. Or when I neglected the team to privilege my own carrier in advertisement ("**Acting Out**"). And what about that occasion on which I forgot about the camera I had used to film the MBC practising, which also brought us much trouble ("**The Famous Four**"). You know, I'm not very proud of these moments. Each time, we got in great danger because of me !"

"Yeah, but you know, Chris, nobody is perfect !" Sam answered with a forgiving smile. "Who among us never made a single mistake ? That's part of life. You've been doing far enough positive to be allowed a little negative. Don't you think ?"

"Yes… maybe…" the freckled geek hesitantly let out.

"And you've been saving MBC quite a few times, don't forget that !" Cathy enthusiastically chirped. "Like when you helped Sam and Danny to fight those two copycats S2 and D34 ("**The New Recruits**"). You had made believe you were mad at our firends for accusing these robots, out of jealousy, but it was all a trick to deceive these fakes and better take them by surprise. If you hadn't been there, I'm not sure the team would be here complete today."

"Hum, yes, I had tried to be more cunning than these robots, that time, and it's true I was rather pleased with my little gambit. The main point was to dupe their suspicions."

"Yes, and you were the one to finally destroy the pincher bots' leader, when we were rescuing Elton, the first time he came to Earth ("**Mindreader**"). I must say that I was pretty impressed to check out how you managed to deal away with that army of metal craps. You've been doing better than me ! I was even a tad jealous on that occasion…" Danny pouted, and this made his friends laugh.

"Were you, really ?" Chris asked, as he found it hard to believe.

"I was. But it's all behind now. And congratulations for that one time. You were great !"

Chris smiled at his mate. "Wow, thanks, Dan'. That's not every day I get a compliment from you. Maybe I should write it down ?"

"Hey, careful, Dude ! Or I take my compliment back !" This also was said in a funny way, and the kids giggled again. Danny could really be a "funbox" when he wanted to. And he often wanted to, which brought a very nice atmosphere in the team.

"Anyway, you mean a lot to us, Chris." Sam stated. "And despite any error you could have made, we still like you a lot and are happy you are our friend. It wouldn't be the same if you weren't there !"

"True !" Cathy exclaimed. "And it actually _wasn't_ the same when you indeed _weren't_ there, the day you got abducted by those jellyfish aliens ("**Cloudy With A Chance Of Jellynerps**"). We were so down while you were away. I swear we got sitting here for hours, waiting to find some way to rescue you and lamenting for your absence. Me and Sam were so sad, and Danny walked to and fro endlessly, mumbling his anger. We missed you so much that day !"

The little genius felt his heart overflow with tenderness and love for his friends. They were so nice to him ! And they had been missing him so much ! How could he ever thank them for being that caring for him ?

"Folks, I have no words to express…"

But Chris was cut short by Mr Smith, who suddenly pointed both his fingers at him and shouted : "Sheratounodul !" As soon as this was uttered, a wave of cold surrounded the tech, quickly replaced by a hot air blow, which in turn "gave way" to electric pulses through his organism. It was so strange ! Suddenly, the upper part of Chris's body moved to one side, then to the other, but curiously enough, it wasn't painful at all. Finally, the blue member felt himself straightening up and stand stiff as a pillar, upright, his limbs stuck to the flanks. He couldn't move for a while. As if he was turning into a statue.

Then he felt his freeze end up as quickly as it had begun and he nictated a few times, just to convince himself that everything was fine. And it was indeed. But he somehow felt a tad different, although he couldn't phrase the precise difference. As if…

"**ALIEN RESIDUES SUCCESSFULLY CLEARED FROM HUMAN ORGANISM"**

"YAY !" Cathy's scream was almost deafening. She smiled a huge smile, her eyes sparkling and her body tense with great enthusiasm. She saw that things were getting better and better, as two members out of four were already cured. It was all going so fine !

"Welcome in the healthy circle, Dude !" Danny exclaimed with a wide grin. And he high-twoed Chris. **(A/N : I could say "high fived", but… I just love making up my own stuff ! Besides, they're two here, right ? ;)** The geek returned the smile, happy to have passed.

"Yeah, we're all very pleased to see you back to normal. You're better that way !" Sam smiled and winked as she said that. And she added : "That reminds me that I told you exactly the same sentence right after you had quit being a bad boy. Remember that time when you were trying to get in detention, to help Cathy fight Gluten ? ("**The Trouble With Troublemaking**"). You had those dark glasses and cap back to front, and even rings on your fingers. It was very funny ! But you didn't manage to get caught by Principal Rollins, despite all your efforts. And so, I had told you that you were so much better as a geek than as the boss of the school !"

Chris laughed. "Sure, it's still vivid in my mind. I felt kind of awkward on that day. And all that "gangsta" make believe all to no avail. You, Sam, didn't do anything evil purposely, and were rather trying to avoid detention… and it's YOU who got it ! I couldn't believe it !"

"Yeah, right ! The everso well-behaved Samantha Cloverfield in detention ! That was something, really !" Danny teased his African-American teammate.

"Humpf, okay… But how could I guess that the lunch lady I had jumped on was the real one, and not that sticky in disguise ? Anybody would have got mistaken on that, even you, Daniel Jackson !" She had used his full ID ironically, in response to him doing so in the first place.

Danny was smirking at her, and as a faithful reflection, she imitated him. They were often arguing, but most of the time in an ironic, teasing way. Still, nothing could have changed the fact that they were friends and fundamentally appreciated and respected each other. They just had different natures, opposite ones actually, and it made their dialogs rather funny.

Mr Smith coughed, to draw the teens' attention. And of course, they all turned to him. It was obvious he now had something to say, something important, they could tell by his stare. The old Rhapsodian gave a look around, then smiled, and finally said : "Kids, I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, but what if we tried to cure another MBC member ?"


	6. We need a leader !

**WE NEED A LEADER !**

**(A/N : the title of this chappy is a « wink » to the famous song WE NEED A HERO, by Bonnie Tyler)**

"Yes, you're right, Grandpa ! We have to do quick, so we can get back to work on Earth as soon as possible ! " Cathy said in her shrill voice. And she got close to Sam, then turned to her grandfather, put her hand on Sam's arm and went on : "And I propose Sam goes next. I'll be the last one. Always put your friends first, remember ?" She smiled as she spoke it up.

Sam turned to Cathy and her so white teeth appeared in her black face as she grinned a big, wide grin. "Thank you Cath' !" The blue-eyed alien smiled on then replied : "Eh, you're welcome, Sam ! Besides, you deserve to go before me because you're the team leader, and would the MBC be that efficient a hunting group if you weren't there to supervise our strategies and plan our moves ? You're so clever and efficient, Sam ! We're lucky to have you as our chief !"

The yellow member kept on grinning, so glad she was to hear these compliments, but still, something bothered her in Cathy's statements. And so she felt the need to precise things a little bit.

"You know, Cathy, I feel honoured that you would consider me the leader of our gang, but nevertheless, I feel… hum, say, uneasy about it. For, as you know, rule number 2 of MBC chart has it that there is no leader in the team. We're all on a par in here. It's true that I give orders and decide of some strategies, but… well… I don't know, I still don't think of myself as a leader…"

"But while our team has officially no chief, we can unofficially consider you our guide, because of all your involvement in our battle plans. And if MBC was one day to have an official leader, it would be nobody else but you !" Chris stated.

Sam felt herself blush. That was so sweet from her mates. But of course, they were right. How many times had she taken the crucial decisions ? How many times had she known exactly what to do ? How many times had she found the best strategy to counter the monsters' plans ? How many times had she shown great courage while facing the evil aliens ? She indeed was a model of structure, planning and supervising, and all those qualities had been noticed countless times during the missions, but also in everyday life, notably when Sam had been in charge of the commemoration ceremony of Singletown ("**Statue Of Limitations**"). On that occasion, she had shown a real aptitude to assign tasks to each person involved, and even to Wendy, which the preppy blond hadn't appreciated, calling Sam "Boss Lady" several times, until the brunette was fed up and asked her to put it a stop.

And she also was remarkable for her awesome fighting abilities. Danny and her were the most athletic of the group, but she was quicker and knew more moves than the Jock. That was because she had been training in karate for years, and still practised every week Her fighting talents had been particularly noticeable in the fight against the swamp creature who had used Matisse for his bad purposes ("**Dog Daze**").

But that was not the end of her talents. She was a very good student, the best of their class and the second best of the school, by short. That was impressive ! You could ask Sam about just any academic discipline, any subject, she would always be able to help you. The black MBC member was interested in all topics, and not just strictly science, as it seemed in the first place. She also had a knack for such various matters as history, essay writing, geography, informatics (although less than Chris, as sounded logical), gym, art class, cooking class.

Speaking of art and cooking, she had displayed these talents on two notable occasions. It was indeed art that had "saved the day" when the brother of Speedy, the racing alien, had decided to collect all humans and freeze them in frames that he intended to bring back to his home planet ("**Galaxy's Strangest Creatures**"). Sam, who had got into painting at school, had borrowed a magical paintbrush from Mr Smith and each time she painted something, it was bound to turn real the next minute. And so, when she had painted the alien with stone blocks imprisoning his feet, the creature had indeed got stuck in stone a little while later. This way, Sam had avoided being caught as well and got the opportunity to free all humans captured.

As for cooking, the pony-bunned girl had proved she could be a very good cook when she had prepared all the food for the sale dedicated to money raising for whales protection ("**Snack Time**"). Thanks to her talents, they had gathered quite a little wealth, which had been a substantial help for the Whale Protection Organization involved. And it had been hers to solve the Glusock issue thanks to the food device provided by John. She also had been preparing picnic food once for one of the gang's days out, and they all had express their satisfaction as to the quality of her delicacies.

And Sam had also shown a real disposition for music when they had been forming that faddish band, a cover for their surveillance of the Flying Dutchmen ("**Battle of the Bands**"). She had been in charge of the drums and, of all the MBC members, had been the one to best make it. Actually, her three friends had all agreed that she had done way better than them, and that she could have become a drummer if she had felt like taking up a musical career.

"You are a great leader, Sam !" Cathy enthusiastically told her. "You have all the qualities it takes to be supervising a teamwork, and you have that natural authority we all respect."

"Yes, true. And given that natural authority, it's no wonder Doudo had chosen you to be the fake princess in order to deceive that pig-warrior general who was hunting for the real alien princess he was supposed to meet with ("**Princess Sam**"). You fit in perfectly for that role, and I honestly think there was something stately in your way of walking." Chris was smiling as he finished his sentence, which made Sam wonder whether he was teasing her.

"You're joking, right ?" she let out, a disbelief expression plastered over her features.

"But no, I'm not ! Absolutely not ! I really think there was a majestic aspect in your walk."

"Hum, well, that's something new…" the yellow member thoughtfully said. "Hum, anyway, even if that princess thing soon annoyed me, that was still a better experience to be the crown-headed than being the subject to be obeying orders. I can tell I had been far more upset when I had been forced to serve Mark after allegedly hurting him "so baaad", you know !" Sam pronounced these last words in a very ironic tone, imitating Mark when he had actually uttered this, and she rolled her eyes in a very funny way. ("**The Beast Within**").

"Yeah, he had driven you nuts that day !" Danny observed with a smirk. "See what I regularly have to put up with ! That Richie Rich is much of a pain, isn't he ? You must have been willing to chop off his head, right ?"

"You bet !" she said, laughing.

Cathy had been thinking for a while. She then "landed back to Earth" **(A/N : how logical is that for an alien ? XD )** and spoke her mind : "I think that it was fun watching you playing the princess, but I just recalled an occasion on which things were way funnier. Do you remember when that alien caveman came to Earth to look for a female companion, and he had set his heart on Principal Rollins ? ("**Me Krog You Rollins**") Yeah ?"

Sam winced a bit, since she clearly recalled that story and she knew what was coming next from Cathy. But she decided not to be a sore loaser and let her blond friend talk.

"Yes, I do." Chris answered. "Sam had worn that strange alien hat which made her alternatively burst out laughing like crazy or cry a river ! It was really something ! I never saw you acting this weird, Sam."

"Hum, yeah…" the one concerned dropped. She made a fake pout and they all laughed. She didn't feel that comfortable with such memories as these, which made her appear a bit… ridiculous, but she also knew that it was plain teasing, and that nobody actually intended to make fun of her for real. Not even Danny, who was often prompt to needle her. So she overall took their teasing good, although she playfully made believe she was upset.

"You know, folks…", Danny cut in, "… I actually saw Sam act weird another time : when she was hypnotized by Gilbert, that little alien who collected comics ! ("**Comic Book Heroes**"). Remember, Sammy ? You had that fixed stare and endlessly mumbled "we are not lollygagging… we are not lollygagging… we are not lollygagging…" Quite freaky, I must say. You were that strange ! (Sam gave him a frown, a vexed look directed at him… but then she sketched a smirk).

"Yeah, I was indeed…" she trailed in a soft voice that foretold irony. And she added in that same smooth tone : "…and I also recall that you, dear Danny, had those goofy glasses on, you know ? They were used as protection against Gilbert's hypnotizing braces, right, but you looked really fine with these…" And her smile widened as much as possible as she uttered these mocking words.

The Jock seemed to get paler. He then crossed his arms and stuck out his tongue at her teammate. Cathy giggled, as Chris did. Sam didn't, but she maintained her sweet but ironic smile. Her eyes wrapped The Danny in a jeering embrace. And she winked to the red member. He pouted for a little while, then smiled and shook his head to and fro. Ah, that Sammy…!

"No hard feelings, right, Dan' ?" the brunette told the green-eyed boy. She didn't think he would get really annoyed by her teasing, but she still preferred to check that.

He stared at her for a few more seconds, then spoke up : "Ah ah, it takes more than this to unsettle The Danny, girl !" he was showing off again. So like him !

"Yeah, sure, boy !" she replied, using gender to get a tad sarcastic over his own use of gender at the end of his previous sentence.

"You two guys really can't help confronting and teasing each other on every occasion…" Chris stated with a shaking of the head. "But I can tell you like each other like brother and sister, and your bonds are really strong, despite all mocking and irony."

Cathy nodded and showed her approval : "Chris is right. You keep on throwing fake darts at each other but, deep inside, you just like each other a lot. Your teasing is a way to express your mutual affection."

The unofficial leader of the gang smiled at her buddies and nodded in agreement. It seemed to be a kind of rivalry through words between the red and yellow temmates, but they fundamentally respected and loved each other like siblings. And although they often seemed to disagree, they intrinsically were on the same frequency as regarded alien fighting.

"Yes, Dan' and I really like to…"

But she was cut short by a scream that maybe announced a victory : "Sheratounodul !"

The black girl felt cold, felt hot, felt electric, felt party moving, felt stiff upright… and finally her body returned to its standards. She blinked for a few seconds, waiting for another odd physical display, but none followed.

The next utterance to be heard confirmed a third success :

"**ALIEN RESIDUES SUCCESSFULLY CLEARED FROM HUMAN ORGANISM"**

Cathy pranced about as she clearly rejoiced over that announcement. Danny had both fists held up high and yelled his satisfaction : "YEAH !" Chris grinned as wide as he could, and so did Mr Smith. They were so happy that each of them gradually got back to normal. The return to Earth was nearing always more and more.

"Welcome back !" Danny exclaimed.

"Glad to see you fit again !" Chris noted.

"Congratulations, Sam !" Cathy shouted.

"Hey, thanks, guys ! Feels good to be back to normal ! It's going on pretty good ! Just one more to cure and we'll be able to end up that quarantine and return to Earth ! Come on, guys, we can make it !"

Mr Smith drew near and smiled as he looked to each teenager in turn. He was very satisfied to spot the kids' happy expressions. They were clearly enthusiastic. It's always so pleasing to observe joy in your dear ones.

"Yes, great, as you say !" the white-haired alien declared. And his revolving look came to a standstill as it met up with his granddaughter's blue eyes.

"Schloumba… shall we ?"


	7. Last comes the alien

**Howdy Friends ! **

**I'm sure ya wanna all kill me for delaying the publishing of this chapter that much. But please be merciful with… an innocent ! Cuz, yeah, I'm TOTALLY innocent of the crime you accuse me ! Don't blame it on WB (Writer's Block), cuz I never met with it…**

**WB : You know, Léo, I'm just waiting for you…**

**Me : Why don't ya go bother sby else ?**

**WB : Yeah, sure… Like, say… Hahli Nuva, BeachBabe123, Blood-Of-Silver, **

**Cathyrulz4ever, Masterminor… One of those folks, maybe ?**

**Me : Uh, nonono, don't ! Leave them in peace ! Just bother ME and let them find all **

**their inspiration !**

**WB : See, you can be reasonable, when you want to…**

**Me : Hmfff… **

**No, blame it on work, actually ! Cuz we're having major workload with winter season rising (if ya wanna know what work I do… don't hesitate and ask ! ) And I've got so lil' spare time to write since the beginning of December…**

**All my thanks and gratitude to all of you great friends who reviewed positively, encouraged me and even expressed admiration. It goes straight to my heart ! So best of thanks to you. Luv ya all !**

**And now, without further pompous speech, here comes chappy 6 ! It is my X-Mas present for you all to share ! *** N'joy ! *****

**VI LAST COMES THE ALIEN**

"Eh yes, your turn now, Cath' !" Danny said cheerfully.

"Yeah, my time has come !" the blue-eyed girl answered with a large grin. "And soon we'll be able to land back into our garden ! That was easier than we thought, right ?"

"Quite so !" Sam replied. "But all the credit for that is Mr Smith's." She turned to Cathy's grandfather : "You've been really really efficient, Mr Smith ! Thank you so much for your invaluable help ! We owe you a lot !"

The Rhapsodian smiled and modestly said : "Oh, it's nothing, you know ! I didn't do that much ! Just a little dance, a little spell and there it is. No big deal, actually !" And he simply shrugged it off, still smiling gently.

"You're the best, Grandpa !" the blond girl chirped. The old man bowed. Then Cathy walked to the center of the room, her grandfather stopped by her and closed his eyes, focusing on what might be his last task of the day.

"Oh, I just can't wait to be back to Earth ! I really love this planet ! Well, except for a few people like Jeremy and Mr Fusster. I can't stand those two klouboostiq !"

"Hum, I think we'll need the bilingual dictionary English-Rhapsodian here…" said Chris.

The team guffawed like crazy. Cathy often let out some idioms of her home planet, unexpectedly, and didn't really paid attention that she was speaking away in her native language, not in English.

"Oh yes, sorry !" the 700 years-old alien exclaimed. "I often forget that you can't understand my mother tongue. So, "klouboostiq" is slang for "pain in the neck". You say this when mentioning those who are annoying you. Like Jeremy and Mr Fusster for me."

Danny let out a loud laughter. "Oh yeah, they've been, we all can tell ! It had all started with that famous issue with the alien flower with a crown, King… Petalia, was it ? ("**Flower King**"). He had given you some present with a poem, remember ?"

Cathy winced as she did. "Hum, yeah… Still, that was sweet of him, but… he hasn't given me any break since then !"

Sam couldn't help laughing lightly. "Yeah, he was always after you, true ! And I can still recall that one day when the two of you were stuck to each other while we were battling Herptilius up there in space ("**Frogs In Space**"). I think you've never been this close to him. But then again, it was so cute to see you two lovebirds holding hands…!" She winked.

Cathy made the kind of face she would have been making should she have swallowed some disgusting kind of food. Or maybe bitten into a not matured lemon. "Hey, that wasn't funny at the time, right ? It was most embarrassing, on the contrary. Stuck to Jeremy ! When I think back of that moment…"

"Still, you must admit he had helped you that time, and very efficiently ! If we were able to defeat Herptilius, it was mostly thanks to his action, when he played what he thought was a videogame, right ?" Chris observed with his usual common sense.

Cathy sighed, aware of her impossibility to deny it. "Yeah, okay, he helped us. You happy now ?" She was a bit upset to be forced to recognize about Jeremy's help. Yet she wasn't of bad faith, so she would have admitted any true statement, even if reluctantly.

"And he also helped us when we were confronted to that Prosgar guy, who was fond of Parchugal playing and wanted to take the square town away because it matched his board game ("**Sore Winner**"). Do you recall that, folks ?" Sam asked as she was remembering the details of that adventure.

"Sure I do !" replied Chris. "It had been much of an issue : I had had to download thousands of pages because of the Parchugal being such a complicated game, then we all had lost against Prosgar for not making it within the given time..."

"...until The Danny stepped in !" the red member heroically completed. "It was all mine to save the day that time, eh ! (He threw a look at Sam, and she just rolled her eyes in the funniest way). And true that Jeremy had been of much help on that occasion, as he translated all those alien codes in no time. But gee, he still kept me with Ralph and Roy for his damn RPG, while I absolutely didn't care about it ! That was annoying !"

"Yeah, and you had been forced to promise Jeremy that you'd play another role game, should he be able to help you with those codes. And so did you after school that same day !" Cathy then guffawed as she remembered how Danny had been upset about the whole thing.

"Thanks for refreshing all those "nice" moments in my memory, Cath' !" Danny complained.

"Oh, come on ! Can't The Danny deal with such insignificant issue ?" Sam teased him. He answered with a forced smile then went back to an apparently sulking attitude.

"One must admit Jeremy was of some help on a few occasions" Chris stated.

"Yeah, but he also got us in pretty much trouble when we had to foil Nosidda's plans. ("**The End of Everything**") I couldn't morph back to human and he was chasing after me. And later on, he had brought that cursed parcel on our porch, which had sealed our house with an electromagnetical bubble that only Grandpa's carnivorous plant had been able to remove. All that because he had been following Nosidda's advices without wondering..." Cathy had an angry expression on her face, as she was going over the events again, reliving them.

"Yes, but don't forget he thought Nosidda was there to help him win your heart. So he was merely looking for a way to seduce you, nothing more. That's still sweet, no ?" Chris pleaded in favour of his nerd buddy, with whom he shared his computer hobby.

"Hmpf... yeah... okay..." Cathy reluctantly admitted. "But he'll _**never**_ win my heart !"

The other three burst out laughing, and even Cathy sketched a smile in the end.

"Anyway, he probably wasn't the one to bother you most, you know, Cathy…" Chris phrased after a while of thinking. "I bet Mr. Fusster was way more irritating to you, wasn't he ?"

"That... schneurdnozel !" Cathy let out with a visible expression of disgust over her face. Her friends couldn't help but giggle again.

"Wasn't schneurdnozel supposed to be Addison Single's... hum... qualification ?" Sam asked her blond teammate. You had called him so on that Singletown celebration, remember ? ("**Statue Of Limitations**")

"Yeah, right. Well, you can use that rhapsodian word for just _any_ person annoying you. And Mr. Fusster definitely annoyed me. I mean, because of him, I got detention, although he had been the one to provoke me by insinuating that aliens don't exist ! ("**The Trouble With Troublemaking**"). What was I supposed to do ? Just lie back and hear him utter whatever crap he felt like uttering ?"

"Eh eh, you sure surprised us a lot that day. I didn't think you'd have the guts to stand up to him. That was quite something to see you sweep his desk clean in one single move. Impressive ! And also impressive was, of course, the first detention Sam ever got !" And the macho boy smiled teasingly at the leader.

The latter frowned a tad and winced in a slightly upset way. "And there you go again ! Well, you can talk, you who probably are on the podium of the most frequent detention students ! There hasn't been a semester during which you didn't get stuck with Mr. Fusster on a Wednesday afternoon. Now, say what, _The_ Danny ?" She smirked at him and sent her head back in a mocking attitude.

"Bah, I'm proud to be on the podium for something. If not for grades, then for detention. I'm at least the best in something." And he stuck his tongue at her, which made her shake her head from side to side, with a "Tss Tss !" whisper that showed how she pitied him.

Cathy giggled as she saw this. Chris smiled as he watched his friends arguing for the umpteenth time. Then something came up to his mind and he turned to the alien. "Now that I think of it, there's still somebody else who pretty much got you angry. Do you know who I'm referring to ?"

The pink member took a while to reflect on those who had upset her, and then it struck her as well. "My cousin Elton ! (Chris nodded in agreement) Oh yes, what a killjoy he was, always phrasing out loud people's most intimate thoughts, and that just because he had the ability to read minds ! ("**Mindreader**") He was really annoying with that. And when I think that silly pot disclosed what happened between us when we were kids... GRRRRR !"

Inside Sam's mind, an alarm went off. The Revenge Alarm. There was an occasion not to miss there. She took a few seconds to think, then smiled. It was the perfect spike to use ! "Yeah, he was very pesky, for sure ! But at the same time, we had a few good laughs thanks to him. Like, say... (she turned her head to the eyebrow-scarred boy) when we learned that THE Danny still slept with his Teddy Bear ! How surprising !" She pronounced these last words with so much irony, and made such a wide grin afterwards, that the Jock couldn't hold himself back : "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT !" She merely remained there, arms crossed, defying him silently. "Yeah, sure ! Whenever you want, Dude !"

Chris smiled and leaned towards Cathy, whispering : "Well, it's good to see Sam enjoying herself like this. We often told her that she was too serious, so when I see her playing with Danny like this... well, I find it very cool ! What do you think, Cathy ?"

The young Rhapsodian was guffawing like crazy, watching her buddies argue this funny. She liked it a lot when things were going crazy like this. She didn't hear what Chris was saying, and he had to repeat his sentence for her to react.

"Yup, you said it, Chris. These two will never really cease teasing each other."

The African-American girl and the green-eyed sporty boy had come to an end with their little quarrel... for the time being. "I'll get you for that, don't worry, Sam !" She winked at him in return. "Oh, but I'm not worried. Waiting for you anytime, Man !"

"Ah ah ah, it was very funny seeing the two of you mess around like this. I haven't laughed that much since my 700th birthday. You know, it was when we had those two robots S2 and D34, and they were trying to take your place. ("**The New Recruits**") Well, I had tons of fun when you frightened me in the garden, and later, when you fought these copycats in the career. It was very entertaining to watch !"

"Well, glad you enjoyed it that much !" Danny answered. Still, we were not having fun ourselves, while fighting these two animated cans. Right, Sammy ?"

"No, we were not. It was quite tricky to win, I recall. But, hey, if you enjoyed yourself while watching, then it's okay ! Your happiness is what matters most !" She smiled sweetly at Cathy.

"You also had a lot of fun when you were playing that Cathy Lass heroin you had invented." ("**Comic Book Heroes**") Chris tried to recall the details. "You had that mask on, and never missed an occasion to act... well, heroically ! Even at P.E., I remember !"

"Oh yeah, that was GREAT ! It was so stimulating being an heroin. And I managed to destroy that giant clown robot. But it wasn't that easy ! Oh, and you were acting like a zombie, Sam ! That was terrible ! Yes, but also funny, too !"

"We are not lollygagging ! We are not lollygagging ! We are not lollygagging !" Danny repeated, and he threw a side look to Sam, who made a forced smile before glaring at him. "Eh eh eh, told ya it wouldn't remain unpunished, Girl !"

"Hum, perhaps you're forgetting about your goofy glasses, that one time ?" she threw in after a short reflection while. "You didn't look that self-confident, back then, eh ?" She smirked at him. Never leave the last point to the opponent, right ?

Chris felt the need to intervene this time. After all, he was the inventor of those glasses. "Hum, Sam..." he spoke up after clearing his throat "Just keep in mind that the "goofy glasses", as you call them, prevented the three of us from being hypnotized like you, and eventually led to clearing the case. So I guess fun shouldn't be made of my invention, uh ?"

Sam felt a tad sheepish here and answered in a low voice : "Hum, yeah, excuse me, Chris."

To which the tech answered with a smile : "That's okay." No real grudge from him.

Cathy had been visiting her memory while her companions chatted, and she suddenly came up with another nice fun memory : "You know, guys, there's another time which was a blast for me, and that's when I was playing Juliet's part in the school adaptation of _Romeo and Juliet_ ("**Acting Out**"). What a cool experience that was ! I honestly doubted at first, but felt the need to give it a try and I sincerely was pleased with the result."

"And you could have been, for you had been acting just great ! It's still vivid in my memory, you know..." Chris then smiled kindly at his alien friend.

"Chris is totally right on this : you were really gifted for acting !" the golden-eyed girl added in support to the geek's words. "I remember being dubious about the whole thing when I saw you drink a mug of water before starting your line, at the gymnasium, thinking that others may laugh at you, but... I have to say that I was completely mistaken on you, Cath' ! You played the part so great... Very impressive !"

"Ah ah, thank you, thank you ! You're so sweet, Friends ! I haven't enough words to thank you ! Even in Rhapsodian language !" And the young alien burst out in a great laughter, to which her friends joined in.

Danny also had started thinking of all the nice moments the team had spent together, and his memory singled out one precise moment they had been through. "Hey, there was also one cool time for you, Cath', and that was when you were invited to the party thrown by that Jenny girl, who actually was an Octovore in disguise ("**Popular Kids**"). What about that stuff, eh ? Wasn't it a blast as well ? I clearly recall you twirling like crazy on the dancefloor, and glowing like a star. And, in a sense… you were the star of the evening !" And the Jock winked to his outer space friend.

"Oooooooooh yes, that was so cooooooool ! YAY ! I really really really lOOOOved it ! Loved it so much ! What a great moment ! I will never forget it ! And thanks again for allowing me to the party, Sam !" the pink member shrilled enthusiastically.

The black teen smiled as gently as she could. "Bah, it's nothing, really ! I'm glad you could enjoy yourself that much, Cath' ! It was really awesome seeing you expend such energy to dance ! I honestly doubt _any_ human could ever do that…"

The brunette boy coughed twice and looked at the brunette girl from below. Sam got what he implied, but she merely shrugged and rolled her eyes. Danny and his showing off…

"You know, guys, when I think back about all those memories…" Cathy said...

…and stopped as she felt something was bound to happen, right now.

"Sheratounodul !"

The blond stretchable girl instantly turned red, then became blue, passed on to green, switched to yellow, colored to brown, glowed orange and then stood stiff as a spike, her hair completely straight up above her hair, like had they been put too much gel on, and her eyes were goggled as wide as possible.

Sure Rhapsodians had different reactions than humans !

And…

**Tadaaaaaaa ! Cliffhanger ! Yup, had to make it at least once. Fine time for it ! Hope ya liked that chappy which took me soooo much time. If yes… R&R, as usual ! I'll be most happy if ALL of you posted a comment, but hey, it's up 2 U ! Thanxxxx in advance !**

**And good luck with your own stuff ! Try to publish whenever possible !**

**Hugs 'n' smiles !**

**Léo **


	8. Protocol ZX23

**Hello hello, Audience ! I'm sure you've been missing me as much as I've been missing you. Hope you all liked the last chapter (although I got no reviews, this time). But here, in Switzerland, we have this saying : "No news, Good news". So if I don't hear from you, must mean you're all pleased with what you read. Cool then ! :D**

**I'm happy to bring you another chapter before 2012. Waow, 2 chapters in one week ! Kinda catching up with delay, eh ! You'll notice an important change in both topic and tone, in this new chappy. I hope that you still will like it.**

**N'joy !**

**/**

**VII / PROTOCOL ZX23**

"**ALIEN RESIDUES NOT CLEARED FROM HUMAN ORGANISM**

**QUARANTINE PROCEDURE TO BE CARRIED ON UNTIL LAST **

**RESIDUES ELIMINATED FROM REMAINING HUMAN HOST"**

The foursome looked at Mr Smith, completely taken aback. Had they heard correctly ? Had the metal ball which scanned them and announced the "verdict" just said that the alien traces had **not** been cleared ? But how…

They were dumbfounded, all four brains actively trying to understand, all four mouths wide open, all eight eyes goggled full size.

What had happened ?

The horizontal line had just finished its move up the supercomputer screen and the fourth silhouette remained scattered with a variety of colourful spots, while the other three were void of any colour stains.

Yes, it indeed had failed. They couldn't deny the fact any longer. It hadn't worked out, but why ? Why ? What was different that time ?

"Grandpa…" The voice of Cathy wavered with incipient anxiety. She knew she hadn't been cured and that this would delay their return to Earth.

And bad news often coming along together, an alarm went off in the control room. Chris immediately rushed to the keypad and typed quickly. A kind of map appeared, and it showed a big blue dot slowly moving across the screen and zeroing in on a large red ball. Chris read the text that popped up before his eyes and felt his heart sink in his chest. And he physically could feel his temperature drop briskly and goosebumps invade his back.

None of his teammates had followed but they were all staring at his back now, after looking at the screen for a moment. They were quite anxious to know what was going on.

The tech slowly turned his head towards his friends and Mr Smith, and all felt that something terrible was bound to occur. Chris's face was dead pale ! It seemed all blood had flown back from it and that he was gradually turning to white marble… like a statue !

Sam couldn't hold back any longer and exclaimed : "Oh Dear ! Chris ! What's going on ? You look terrible !"

The tech gathered all his energy to blurt out the truth : "Cathy... Sam... Danny... I've got bad news... VERY bad news actually ! We're shooting straight through space, but there's an obvious danger for us..."

"A planet ? We're gonna hit a planet ? That's it ?" screamed Danny. He was so nervous.

"Not a planet, Danny, a star. And not just _any_ random star..."

"Oh no ! Don't tell me..." Sam began and stopped, her rounded eyes eating up her face.

Chris nodded silently. He knew she had got the full extent of the threat that was suspended above their heads. Sam found it hard to gulp down her saliva.

Cathy finally spoke in place of her friend : "Chris... do you mean we are about to crash into... the sun ?"

Chris looked at her with eyes flooded with distress. "Yes, Cathy. We are heading straight to the sun, and if we can't get that quarantine process stopped, then I'm afraid..." He left his sentence unfinished, but he really didn't have to utter it aloud : everyone had got the menace implied. There had to be something to do, there just _**had**_ to !

Mr Smith felt very worried, not only because of the doom that lay ahead but also because he didn't understand where his spell had gone wrong. He had acted identically to previously, yet the result had been different. What could have possibly...?

Sam bit her lower lip, calling upon all her intelligence to try and find a way out of this terrible dead end. But while she was so gifted at crafting very clever strategies to counter the attacks of their foes, she felt all of a sudden distraught facing that invisible alien presence that hid deep under the skin of her best friend. Fighting full-size creatures was one thing, but dealing with microscopic elements was another one. And way more difficult !

"Mr Smith" the black girl began as she turned to him "can you think of any other mean to cure Cathy from the alien residues ? Your spell didn't work out, so we must figure out another way to get rid of the extraterrestrial traces ! Do you have any spare strategy to help us heal Cathy ?" The MBC strategist asking for strategies ! That could mean only one thing : Sam was unable to solve it by the unique might of her brain, this time. For once, she was helpless !

"Wait a sec', wait a sec' !" Danny intervened. "Why don't you try and redo the dance and spell, Mr Smith ? Perhaps something went wrong in the way you did it. With all due respect."

But this time, no one giggled at this last remark. Fun was now banned from minds...

The old man shook his head : "I'm sorry, Danny, but I can ensure you that I acted absolutely similar to what I did with Danny, Chris and Sam. I may be old, but I still know what I do, and in an especially crucial matter as this, I'm particularly focused and alert, to avoid any single hitch in the rescue process. So, no, Danny, nothing went wrong with my actions. And I can definitely certify this to you all !" And he gave a circular look to ensure everybody of the undeniable truth of this fact.

"And there's one more reason not to start the spell thing all over again : it takes much time to be complete, and it won't be long for us to fry in there, if we keep the same trajectory !"

"Would it be possible to modify that trajectory, maybe ?" Cathy suggested, hoping hard for a note of positive in all that negative.

"Well, I'll see what I can do..." said a rather pessimistic Chris. He turned back to the supercomputer and typed quickly. A big red symbol appeared on the screen : a large cross in a circle. It meant the action was denied. Chris turned around again to face his buddies and his sad look was far more expressive than any words. But he still let out the one word that nobody wished to hear : "Impossible". No need to build a full sentence : this word was sufficient to ruin all further hopes related to technology.

Sam fought hard to avoid panic have the upper hand over reason, within her mind. But all doors closed definitely, one after the other, and darkness progressed, while light of hope grew dimmer and dimmer by the minutes. But at last, she felt the need to say something, whatever she could think of, but the anguishing silence in which the room lay was unbearable, and she had to break it by any words her mind would provide her with.

"So, we can't rely on the Rhapsodian cure spell, we can't use the computer to have the clubhouse veered off course and possibly sent back to Earth, so what have we got ?"

Nobody answered her. They were all staring at her, their faces paler than ever, their hearts pounding faster than usual, their mouths drier than possible, their stomachs now hosting a ball of pure fear which was far worse than all the butterflies there could ever be in there when nervousness, usual plain nervousness embraced their bodies. But now it wasn't just nervousness, it wasn't anguish anymore, it wasn't even fear... it was absolute panic !

Sam felt her self control about to give in. She swiftly turned to Mr Smith, and her voice was shaking when she spoke, an unusual pain strangling her throat like a cruel vise : "There must be something to do, Mr Smith ! There must be a solution somewhere !" And when she screamed out those words, it really seemed as she would collapsed and burst out crying the next minute...

Chris could feel all the tension gathered within his friend, and he clearly sensed that her resistance level had been exceeded. And now, like any human being, she couldn't take it anymore. She had done her best to remain strong and collected, cool-headed and reasonable, but now, she seemed nervously down and close to an emotional shock.

"Sam, please, calm down ! I know you're so anxious about this danger, but you must hold on at any cost. Because if YOU give up and let stress overwhelm you, if YOU collapse, then who can help us ? You're the most reliable teammember, so if there's someone we must be able to rely on, it's you, Sam !" And Chris backed up his words with an encouraging smile.

Cathy felt the need to cheer up her best friend, along with Chris : "Yeah, Sam, Chris is totally right ! You are our leader, and we need you ! We really really need you, Sam ! You're the best to solve problems ! You always find a solution ! Please, be strong for all of us !"

And Danny finally joined in the cheer up : "Sam, I know we spend a lot of time teasing each other and be ironic and make fun of ourselves, but, you know, I deeply respect you, and I do think that you are the pillar of this team. Each of us is a pillar, but you are the central one, and without you, we certainly won't be able to make it. Like Cathy just said, we need you, Sam !"

The brunette fought hard to avoid the tears. Her throat was sore, so sore. Her body wanted to cry, but her mind didn't agree. She naturally didn't want to show extreme emotion, because she was so bashful, fundamentally. She sometimes appeared cold and authoritarian, but deep inside, there was another Sam, who kept her most intimate emotions to herself and, whenever seldom she cried, it was when she was on her own, for nobody to witness her sadness.

At last, she managed to brace herself and rose her head to embrace all her friends with a circular look. Upon her lips, a faltering smile had settled and although her eyes were wet, she didn't let crying overtake her. Instead, she inwardly ordered her body to calm down and her mind to take back control over her whole self. And at last, she knew that her self confidence had returned and that she would be strong enough to stand against any bummer.

"Guys… I have no words to express you my gratitude for your support and nice words !" Sam spoke up. "You're all so sweet, so kind to me ! I'm very moved by all your sympathy ! You have no idea how thankful I am to you for cheering me up this intense ! Friends, what would I do without you ? And I'm not the main pillar of the MBC : we all are main pillars. No one above the others in the team, remember ?" And smile returned on her lips for a short while.

That was much like Sam. Respecting the rules of the Club, applying them every day, and even here, in this seemingly desperate situation. But Sam was Sam, and her friends loved her the way she was. They had just been giving her the most striking proof of that. And the unofficial leader of the gang felt touched by this. She smiled at her three buddies and could feel the friendship vibes vibrating between the four of them.

But this emotional moment couldn't last that long, given they were all in jeopardy. Was there any solution left, a solution they hadn't thought of ?

"Mr Smith, are you absolutely sure that there is really no other way to end a quarantine ? Even a complex one, or one that is not recommended ? Please take a while to reflect on this, for it's our lives that are at stake !" Sam's tone was almost pleading.

Cathy's grandfather nodded and focused on his memory. On the quarantine process. On the procedures to follow to have it ended. He frowned as his brain explored the field of research, and suddenly his eyebrows raised as something surfaced. But he immediately wanted to cast that element aside. No, they would never do that ! They just couldn't !

But Chris had seen the old man's reaction and he immediately let out : "You have found something, haven't you ? You just looked surprised. Can we know what it is ?"

The white-haired man threw a glance at the tech, one that showed that he wasn't too sure whether he should share his thought with the youngs or not. He remained silent for a while, and this alarmed Cathy. "Grandpa ? Are you alright ?" she asked, confused by his reaction. He looked at her and felt he couldn't avoid answering. Not to the person dearest to him.

"Well... there... there is a special procedure to end a quarantine... but it's... it's difficult to carry it on..." he slowly stumbled on words. The kids were uneasy, as they never had seen the old Rhapsodian that embarrassed. What could there be with this procedure ?

"However difficult it is, we have no choice but try it, or we'll be fried real soon !" Danny pointed out. Sam took a look at him. The Jock may lack maturity and act too quickly in several kind of situations, but this time, his realistic speech had "hit the target". He was dead right : _**anything**_ was to be tried in such a desperate case as this. Besides, there currently was no other option to explore, so...

Mr Smith sighed and his shoulders fell. He looked really old in this moment, as if this issue was suddenly aging him fast. After taking a deep breath, which seemed to cost him a great effort, he began : "If the regular solutions to end a quarantine in the MBC control room give no result, there remains one last chance of success : the Protocol ZX23. It's a radical procedure though, and it should be chosen only as last resort, and under the condition that all people present in the room agree to activate this special process. It's a decision that is most difficult to make, possibly the most trying choice ever, that's why I hesitated to tell you about it. But I can't lie to you in such a terrible context as this one..."

As he stopped talking and looked at each of them in turn, nobody dared to utter anything. Everybody was reflecting on the speech just spoken up and tried to figure out what this terrible procedure could be. But they were unable to find out about the awful truth of it.

At last did Sam decide to speak once again in the name of the team, expressing their commune feelings in her own words : "Mr Smith, I do think that everybody will agree that we're in a matter of life and death here, and that giving this alarming situation, we need to do anything possible to save ourselves. And when I say anything, I mean _**any**_thing ! I understand this process is particularly impressive to you, but we have no choice ! You have to let us know what that protocol is about, and we must try it. Otherwise..."

She left her sentence unfinished, but everyone completed it mentally. And agreed with what the leader had just said. Each of them could have spoken and confirmed that the brunette was absolutely right about the necessity to try all possibilities, but no one did. They waited impatiently for Mr Smith to explain what the famous procedure was about.

And he finally decided to. Reluctantly, though. But did he have a choice ?

"The Protocol ZX23 states that, if all regular ways for clearing out a menace have failed, the "receptacle" of the menace must be gotten rid of. That is, it must be expelled from the control room by any possible mean. Once it is, the menace being no longer present, return to normal state _de facto_ signifies the end of the quarantine."

Again, silence invaded the room and lingered there. Brains functioned furiously, to help clear the content of those sentences. Actually, it didn't seem that complicated. Although, there was one remaining "grey area", and it was Danny to phrase it : "Mr Smith, what do you mean exactly by the "receptacle of the menace" ? You said it had to be gotten rid of to end the quarantine, but what is it exactly ?"

The old man stared intently at the red member. Now had come the decisive moment. But there was no turning back. Not now.

"The receptacle of the menace refers to the host of the menace, i.e. the precise place where the menace is located." He stopped to see if they had understood what his words implied. At first, nothing seemed to indicate that any of them had got the underlying stuff, but after a short while, Sam's eyes widened and her mouth slowly opened, showing that the girl couldn't believe what her mind had just brought to light.

"Oh no ! NO ! Don't tell me... Mister Smith ! We can't do THAT !" Her screams echoed like a useless cry of help in the cold metal room.

Chris had also got it. He looked down and whispered : "Oh my God, it's not possible !" And his shoulders slumped.

Danny as well understood it, at last, and he threw a panicked gaze at the old Rhapsodian : "No... is it what I think ? You are not serious ? We'll NEVER do such a thing !"

Cathy spoke up : "If we are to expelled the menace from the precise place where it lies, it means we have to find a way to deal away with each of those alien traces in turn. How are we going to do that ? Do we have equipment for that in here ?"

Hugo Smith felt like crying. The others had figured out the terrible thing with Protocol ZX23, but she hadn't. He had to explain it, although it just broke his heart. He closed his eyes, fighting against the horrible pain growing inside, and waited for his throat to feel less sore and swollen, so he could speak. And he told her.

"Schloumba, we don't have any equipment here to remove those residues. I'm so sorry..." His throat was all sore again. _Oh God, how terribly painful this is ! Oh, Cathy..._

"But how are we gonna eliminate those alien residues inside of me, then ? With a new spell ?"

She felt puzzled about all this. The light hadn't been shed in her mind yet...

"Cathy..." It was Sam. She knew it was too hard for her grandfather, so she would tell her friend to spare him this cruel effort. "We can't eliminate the residues, by any means. But we still have to eliminate the menace to end that quarantine. So... you see what we would have to do ? Your grandfather mentioned the host of the menace..." She stopped. It really was so hard to utter. Her throat started to swell under the pain.

Cathy took a while to think. The host of the menace... And all of a sudden everything became clear to her. The host was herself. Her own body ! And getting rid of the host of the menace implied getting rid of... her ! Her eyes sprang wide as the terrible truth was revealed to her.

Now they all knew. Calamity had wrapped its icy arms around all of them now. Cruelty breathed its repugnant breath everywhere inside the room. And Despair held their minds and hearts in its claws, gripping tightly onto them.

Throwing their best friend into outer space ? They couldn't do that. True that their lives were at stake, but they wouldn't have the force to decide such a horrible thing.

"Don't worry, Cath', we won't do that. We won't expel you to break quarantine and save our lives. NEVER !" Danny shouted, and he looked at his alien friend in a determined way.

"Danny is right !" Chris confirmed. "Even if keeping you in there means dying, we won't let you down, Cathy ! We'll stay with you until the end. Isn't it, Sam ?"

The yellow member didn't hesitate and answered : "Yes, exactly so. If we have to die all together, then so be it. We won't deal away with you, Cath'. You may be infected by alien residues, but you're not some crap one can throw away like that. You are our _friend_, and we shall never put you aside. So if this means sacrificing my own life for friendship's sake, I will, and without a single moment of doubt. Friendship is our most sacred gift with Love, and life seems of poor value without these. If we lost you, somebody so dear to us, would it still be worth living ? Personally, I would be desperate for the rest of my days if you disappeared, Cathy. And I'm not so sure I would still feel like living..."

Mr Smith nodded as he heard those wise words. And it was his turn to say something : "Kids, I'm proud of you. You value love and friendship so much that you are ready to sacrifice your existences for them. That's very mature and wise ! I honestly didn't expect such adult behaviour from young people as you. You really impress me, and it's an honor to be here by your side. And of course, I will myself not hesitate to die instead of expelling my little Cathy, the person I love most !"

Everybody looked at him. He was really moved by the mature and self-giving behaviour of those young humans, and his emotion was visible on his features.

Cathy suddenly intervened, speaking in a worried and hasty voice : "Friends, I know what you all feel, and I really appreciate what you're doing for me. It's the most wonderful present you could ever give me : offering life for friendship is a very touching sacrifice. I have no words to thank you, really ! I love you all so much !"

She looked at each of them in turn, and last at her grandfather, on whom her eyes lingered, then lowered her gaze to the ground.

"But... I can't accept your sacrifice ! I really can't ! It's not fair to drag you into death with me by staying in this room. It's not fair and it would be selfish from me if I accepted to remain in there with you. I don't want to sentence you to death by staying with you. I love you all way too much to let you die. You must live ! You have that possibility, not me ! Whether I stay or get out in outer space, I will die ! So, please accept my decision !"

And in the silence that followed, her words dropped like stones in water, down to the bottom :

"Grandpa, I want you to start Protocol ZX23 !"

/

**Previous chapters were rather funny, this one is very dramatic. I had warned you about a radical change. It was not easy to write this stuff (although it still follows the plot of the original episode), so I hope you like the result. I dunno when chapter 8 will be up, but in the mean time : HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all ! Peace, Love, Ecstasy ! -L.-**


	9. A cruel decision

**Greetings, Humans ! -)**

**Hope you're all doing fine and that you're good with yr studies… and wz yr MBC stories as well, of course !**

**Sorry if I'm bringing this only now, but I've been weighted down with massive massive workloads, you just have no idea… ! Hence did I have scarce time to write (and to sleep, which resulted in me being exhausted… but I'm better now) and had to do it in every lil' spare time I could find, which was seldom.**

**Anyway, here it is, for you all to read and, hopefully, appreciate.**

**Now, close your door, your window, turn off your cell, forget about the rest of the world and… Njoy ! :D**

**/**

**VIII / A CRUEL DECISION**

/

All of the people present in the control room (but Cathy) gasped. No way ! Had the young Rhapsodian really said what they seemingly had heard ? But deep within, each one soon enough realized that it had indeed happened : Cathy had said she wanted Protocol ZX23 to be engaged. Which amounted to her agreeing from being cast away in outer space, without any chance of return !

For a long time, there was no sound in the room. Sam, Chris and Danny observed carefully their friend, to know if she felt any emotion or hesitation about her choice. But the blond alien wasn't weakened the slightest in her decision. Her gaze, often naïve and enthusiastic, had gained a sudden firmness which her three friends weren't used to. It was more of Sam's to stare this decided. But one could tell that the usually bubbly girl had lost all fancy to laugh or chirp around, as she most regularly did it.

After what seemed an eternity, Sam found the strength to speak : " But… Cathy… You can't do that ! We can't let you do that ! Never on Earth ! You are our friend and we'll never ever let you down ! We prefer to all perish along with you than let you go to save ourselves ! We are best friends, and best friends have to stick together, whatever the problem, whatever the catastrophe !"

The pink member stared at her leader, but remained silent. She was reflecting on all that her teammate had just said. Of course she was right about the crucial importance of friendship, but then again, what could she do against fate ?

Chris was next to talk : " Sam is absolutely right, Cathy ! Of course we'd all like to be able to save our lives and return safely to our planet, but if that means losing you, then we'll never do it ! Sacrificing a friend's existence to go on living yourself ? No, that can't be acceptable ! Maybe some would do it, but not us ! We're a team and will remain one until our last breath, no questions asked !"

Cathy again was mute after the MBC geek had finished his utterance, but she felt emotion start to rise up and up in her heart as she figured out how much her buddies prized her, so much actually that they agreed to die in order to stay with her !

"I totally agree with Sam and Chris, Cathy !" Danny let out on an encouraging and decided tone. "We can't let go of you ! Not now ! Not in a million days ! Never ! You are so dear to our hearts that we will accept death without hesitation if that means being with you until the end. Friendship is friendship, and be sure we're not gonna let death tear us apart like this. We either all die or all go back home, if we can figure out a way we haven't thought of. But we certainly won't let you leave this room without us !"

Sam gave an admiring look to Danny. She sure didn't always agree with him, given their different natures, and actually often had dissimilar perspectives, notably regarding the MBC strategies to adopt and the consideration on studies (Sam valuing them while Danny didn't think them such a necessary thing), but she had to admit he could be really sensible when he wanted to. And the little speech he had just made moved her. It was the most touching of the three that had just taken place. Danny spoke like a wise man, and Sam could see that he was himself moved about what was happening. He had more sensitivity than he said he had.

Cathy felt the lump in her throat grow bigger. She had such wonderful friends ! They loved her so much ! They wouldn't hesitate to put their lives as an offering on the altar of doom in order to stay with her until the last moment. They knew they didn't have a chance while she remained there with them, but they were ok with this ultimate sacrifice. _Oh my friends ! Oh, I care so great for you ! I couldn't wish for better companions in my life… Oh my God, why do you have to die with me ? _

The young Rhapsodian could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She was so moved by all the love she could sense in the determined stares of her three friends, now all looking intently at her. They were so sweet ! How could she ever repay them from such nicety of theirs ?

But then, she thought that such loving persons as her dearest ones didn't deserve to pass away because of her. It was absolutely unfair that these wonderful people, who had shared so many marvellous moments with her, would have to be sentenced to death only because her body refused to get cured. No, she couldn't let them die ! They had to live on ! They _deserved_ to live on ! She couldn't stand the idea of losing her grandfather and her best friends ! She had the power to spare their lives !

"Friends…" she began, her voice trembling with emotions "I … I don't know what to say. I'm not sure words can really express my feelings faithfully. But what I can tell you is that… I'm… I'm so touched by your sacrifice… so moved by your decision… Gosh, I'm really lost for words, for once !"

She stopped and gave each of them a serious look. She wanted all to feel how concerned she was and how she appreciated what they were prepared to do for her. None of them uttered anything, but looked her back, smiling reassuringly. They knew their alien companion needed comfort right now, and no other time, so they were all focused on her and alert to her words.

Cathy took a deep breath and went on : "Look… I know that you are determined to stay with me whatever happens, but… I just can't accept this ! I can't accept you, my dear friends, to renounce to your lives for me ! It's… it's simply unjust ! It's not fair you should have to die with me like this ! I want you to LIVE ! You HAVE TO !"

The blue-eyed girl took a deep breath, and the others could tell that what she was about to utter was very painful and difficult to let out. And she finally held her breath, closed her eyes for a short while, then opened them again and…

"So I definitely refuse to remain in this room. I have to leave. For you to live on." And she turned to her grandfather : "Grandpa, please… I know what you think and what you feel, but… I have to do it. I just have to ! So please… start Protocol ZX23 for me !"

The old man didn't move, didn't speak, but remained there, staring intently at his granddaughter. His heart had never been that heavy in his chest. His throat never that sore. His mind never so confused. It was all too much for him. A tear appeared on the corner of his left eye and rolled down. Another followed in the right eye. "Schloumba…" he said with obvious difficulty. And that's all he managed to say.

Sam's eyes were now wet as well, and Chris's vision had become blurry. Danny turned to the other side, so that nobody could see him cry. He never cried, and felt kind of ashamed to be shedding tears right now, so he didn't want anyone to watch him doing so. But his heart was just as hurt as his friends's, to know that Cathy was determined to leave them.

There wasn't anybody in the control room who could keep his/her eyes dry. Cathy herself felt her eyes watering under the terrible pressure induced by her decision.

"You can't do that !" Sam choked out "You can't leave us, Cath' ! We need you ! You're a part of us. It'd be like tearing ourselves apart. Like getting rid of a part of our bodies. You… you have to…" Her voice broke down as more tears silently flowed from her golden eyes. For once, the usually sensible and collected leader was short of words. She wanted to go on, but just couldn't.

Chris gathered his strength and managed to speak, with difficulty though : "Cathy… please don't go… don't leave us ! You are so dear to us. We don't want to lose you !" And he stopped for his heartbeats had become too painful for him to go on. What a torture it was ! Trying to keep his best friend with him when she absolutely wanted to leave. _Oh God…_

Cathy was still looking firmly at her grandfather through her tears. She hated to have to show such determination while he was crying for her, but she had to, because if she didn't insist, he wouldn't accept to follow her request and let her leave the clubhouse for their salvation.

"Grandpa, please… please do it… I'm asking this with all my heart… I hate to think I'll have to leave you all, but I'm agreeing to do it for the best : to have your lives saved ! It's crucial I'm out of here so that you can get back home quickly and avoid crashing into the sun. So I'm begging you to do as I say… please…" And her look was a pleading one.

Mr. Smith's eyes were all so red from crying. But he knew she would keep on insisting if he didn't do the necessary for Protocol ZX23.

So he headed for the supercomputer and typed slowly. A message appeared on the screen, then another one. No one spoke, the only sound heard in the room was sobbing. The moods were all so down… Hope had left all of them. They would maybe live, but would have to accept the sacrifice of their good friend, a sacrifice that she was determined to make. Life can be so cruel sometimes...

A mechanical voice was heard : **"PROTOCOL ZX23 ENGAGED"**.

Just as Mr. Smith finished typing on the keyboard, a white pod covered with circuits and tiny lights appeared in the middle of the room. They all looked at it, unsure of the way it worked. The old Rhapsodian stood up and got closer, then took another sad look at his granddaughter, his eyes red from crying and still wet with tears.

"Schloumba... are you sure ? We all want you to stay with us ! Are you certain that you want to follow your plan and not listen to us ? We really don't care about dying if it's for you ! We all would like so much to have you with us until the end..."

Cathy looked tenderly at her sad grandfather : "Grandpa, I know you all care for me, and believe me, it's moving me a lot deep inside. But I value your lives more than anything, and I would be so devastated if you all had to disappear because of me. I would never forgive myself, you know !" And with this, she looked at each of them in turn.

Then she took a good look at the white pod and gulped with difficulty. "Grandpa, what do I have to do ? Get inside and it will leave the clubhouse with me ? That's it ?" The white-haired alien said nothing but merely nodded while he wiped off more tears from his burning eyes.

Cathy breathed deep, then took a step forward. Then another one. And she finally made the final one, to find herself just in front of her last home ever. She put her hand on the immaculate capsule and shivered as she felt the hard surface under her hand. That hard metal thing, absolutely emotionless, would take her away from her friends who were now drowning in a sea of emotion because of her decision. It was unjust, of course, but did she really have a choice ?

Cathy turned around and watched every anxious face, eyes shining with continuous tears. Even Danny had now turned back and showed his sad face, for he knew the denouement was near, although he hated to think of it.

"My friends, I want to thank each of you from the bottom of my heart for everything you've been bringing into my life. Your love is the most precious gift ever, and wherever I'm going, I'll take it with me and never forget you all ! And you, Grandpa... you're the best grandfather in the universe and I love you more than I can say. May you live as long as can be !"

It was too much for the listeners of this speech. They all stepped up to Cathy and her three friends put her arms around her, while his grandfather, standing nearby, swept shakily, his heart broken to pieces. Cathy was embraced by six arms and she could hear Sam sobbing, while the two boys cried in silence. But they finally couldn't take it anymore and burst into tears loudly. Cathy stretched her arms and wrapped them several times around her friends after having drawn her grandfather inside the group as well. And she hugged them all tight against her own body, her eyes pouring a waterfall, her mouth trembling uncontrollably, her throat a wreck of pain.

It was a long embrace, overflowing with tears and sorrow. Never had any of them been more moved, more heartbroken than in this moment. It was a torture to all. Fate had shattered their lives and smashed their happiness. How could the remaining team members bear the absence of their lost companion ? Where would they find the strength and courage to go busting alien foes without the pink member ? And what about Mr Smith, who would have lost the being he cherished the most ?

Cathy finally broke the embrace and her arms regained their normal size. Sam, Chris and Danny pulled away from her, their faces devastated by grief. They gazed at their soon gone friend desperately and wiped off tears from their reddening eyes.

At last Sam spoke up, in the saddest tone ever, which stood out in such a resilient person as her : "Cathy... we... we will never ever forget you... never ! Thank you for everything you brought us, for your kindness, your optimism, your ingenuity, your cheerful nature, your craziness (here, Sam quickly sketched a smile, which was gone next second)... you're a wonderful girl ! It has been an honor and a pleasure to live by your side ! Cathy... we love you so much !" And the leader couldn't help bursting into tears once again.

Chris was next to speak, in a broken voice no one had ever heard from him : "Cathy... we are so indebted to you for all the "warmth" you've been bringing into our group with your enthusiasm, for all the joy you conveyed to us, for all the originality your alien part provided our team with... You were a light to our group, Cathy ! You'll always be !" He stopped talking, for his throat didn't allow him to talk on, and stared intently at his Rhapsodian friend.

Then came Danny's turn, the Jock expressing in an unusually dull voice : " Cathy... you're the best friend I ever had ! I really loved your crazy side, your naivety, your astonishment at every human stuff that surprised you, your everyday optimism. You've made both our missions and our "normal life" so enjoyable... Thank you, Cath' ! We will never forget you ! You're in our hearts till the end of times !"

Cathy smiled through her tears and sniffed. Then she dried her eyes, looked at each of her buddies and said : "My dear friends, you have no idea how much I will miss you ! But I prefer to know you're alive without me than dead in my company. Your lives are more important than mine. Rhapsodians have the sense of sacrifice." And upon uttering this, she faced her grandfather.

He came closer and took her in his arms, hugging her tighter than he had ever been. She clung to him with no less strength. He whispered something inside her ear and she nodded vigorously while crying, a smile briefly showing upon her lips.

They parted after a long long while, their eyes all shiny and their mouths curved down, slightly shaking. Then Cathy walked up to the white pod and touched a large button just by the metal door, thinking it may be the opening one. And indeed the metal plate slid up, revealing a cavity big enough for only one person.

She took a deep breath after gazing into the small cell, then turned around completely and watched Sam first, then Chris, Danny, and last her grandfather. She kept her eyes on him for a long while, then pronounced her last words : "Goodbye all and take care of you ! I'll never forget you !" And after one last embracing look around, she turned back to face her fate.

Her prison was there, in front of her, waiting to tear her away from their loved ones, away from her life, away from all hope.

And Cathy Smith put her right foot hesitantly on the metal ground of the pod...

/

**Another cliffhanger ? Sounds like it...**

**I hope you liked reading this, and that not too many of you shed tears in what is the most touching chapter of this story. It's kind of difficult to craft such heart-rending stuff without feeling like sweeping as well...**

**Reviews are always welcome. Thanks in advance to those who will share their opinion and feelings about this chapter !**

**I really would like to promise you a quick update, but as you certainly understood from my foreword to this 8th part, I'm groaning under the weight of work, so... it will be come when it will come ! But I'll do my best, as ever !**

**Take care and good luck with your own stuff ! And long live MBC !**

**_ Léo _**


	10. Friendship never dies !

**Howdy to you, Friends !**

**I honestly didn't think I'd be able to update this soon, but the few days off duty I had were of great help in this, I can tell !**

**So I'm able to publish before my birthday, just like I planned to.**

**I'm most satisfied with this one, even more than I was with the two previous ones ! It's a pleasure to be writing this story… and reading it as well ? Let me know !**

**Here it is, Buddies : dessert's served ! N'joy !**

**/**

**/**

**IX _ FRIENDSHIP NEVER DIES !**

**/**

They all jolted as a familiar detonation was heard. And the next second, the metal ball which commanded the whole control room, that same ball that had scanned all of them to check whether they had been cleared of alien residues, came crashing on the ground, smoke emerging from its side.

The white pod then flickered several times and vanished into thin air. And the robotic voice was heard once more :

**« CLEARANCE POD DESINTEGRATED – PROTOCOL ZX23 ABORTED – QUARANTINE PROCEDURE ONGOING »**

All heads but one immediately turned towards the source of the noise and all eyes grew wider when they saw what was there.

Danny's body was in the classical position of the shooter, legs spread wide, arms stretched in front of him, head cocked to the side, one eye closed, eyebrows frowned for concentration. His blaster was aimed at where the metal ball had been floating a moment ago.

They all were unable to speak for a while, during which the red member put his head up again, opened his eye, put his blaster back to his side and his legs in the usual position. He then remained there, arms calmly kept down, and stared intently at Cathy.

She was the first one to talk… or rather, to scream : « Danny… what have you done ? You… you have destroyed the only chance we had to stop the clubhouse from crashing into the sun ! What will we do now ? » Her tone was not really angry, more like desperate. She was completely taken aback about what had just taken place, and felt unable to hold back the panic growing fast within her.

The Jock blinked then replied to his alien friend : « Cath', I did the only honorable thing left to do : save my best friend from a death in outer space, stuck in a small pod ! » And his look was more serious than it ever had been. He was self-confident in the action he had just been performing, and anything that Cathy could argue wouldn't convince him.

« Danny, I am going to die anyway if I stay here ! If I had left from this room, I could at least have saved all of you ! Wasn't it worth the sacrifice ? » The blond girl was now overwhelmed by distress. But then again, what could save them now ?

« Cathy, we'll never get rid of you like this ! We told you we preferred to die with you rather than have you condemned while we saves ourselves ! If you are going to die, then we want to be by your side : it's no fun dying alone, is it ? » And this being uttered, he smiled a little and winked at her. He had the courage to make a joke in such a critical moment ? Danny really was the same hothead he had always been, and if Sam was a model of resilience, so was he but in his own special way.

« Danny is right, Cathy ! » Sam confirmed as she took a step forward. « If you really can't avoid death, then it would be unfair from us to let you die and return safely on Earth without you. We are not going to do that, neither now nor NEVER ! It's either we all end up together or we find an escape we haven't figured out yet… and it's still a slight possibility ! » She wiped off the remains of her sorrow from the sides of her golden eyes and sketched an encouraging smile to show her best friend she would _never_ be on her own !

« But… but… I don't want you to die ! If I can save you, I will ! You are not doomed like I am, so why should you have to die ? » Cathy didn't know what to do now… what to say…

« We will have to accept our death if we can't have the clubhouse returned back on Earth. For we certainly won't let you end up your life alone in order to live on. Danny was right to shoot the control center's unity to prevent you from leaving us. We won't let you down, Cathy, whatever the seriousness of the problem. Be sure of that ! » And Chris did just as Sam minutes ago : he dried his eyes and started to smile, a comforting smile which showed that the tech was confident again, despite the menace still hanging over their heads. He was confident because friendship had been preserved, and that was a great concern of the moment.

Cathy looked at him, then at Danny and finally at Sam. She had decided that she would save their lives, for she wanted them to go on with their existences, above all other considerations, and now… now her dear companions refused to go on living, just for the sake of her. Therefore, she had been willing to sacrifice herself for them, and now they were willing to sacrifice themselves for her. Tables had been turned. Cathy felt a strong force stem from within, as she fully realized the power of Friendship, which was so tremendous that not even the Grim Reaper could spoil it down. Friendship was a truly huge support and strength.

« Friends… » the young Rhapsodian began, then she took a short break and gave a quick glance around, and went on : « I can tell I haven't got a single chance to make you change your mind and accept my initiative, just like _you_ had no chance to make me change my mind a while ago. We're all determined, as I can see. But I've got three people against me, four if Grandpa thinks like you, and so I guess I can't win. So if you want me to stay and us to die all together, so be it ! I'm sad because I wanted to save you, but I don't want to force you if you have decided to value myself more than yourselves. »

Sam walked up to Cathy and put her hands on her alien friend's shoulders, then it was eye-to-eye. « Cath', believe me, we won't regret out choice. And you know what ? Because Friendship is more important than death. We will all pass away eventually, that's for sure, and there's nothing we can do to change that fact. We are helpless about it. But what about Friendship ? About this, on the contrary, we are not helpless : we have the power to preserve it and make it last as long as possible. We just have to want it. And Danny, Chris and I want to preserve Friendship at _any _cost, even if that means dying earlier than planned. We absolutely don't want to break our little group. We are a team, remember ? **(A/N : i believe she said exactly this last sentence in ACTING OUT, right after Chris was complaining that Danny prevented him from shooting the alien… just a lil' wink to the classics )**. And a team mustn't ever be torn apart ! We are to stay together, until the end ! »

It was Danny's turn to talk : « Sam is right. We are a team, Cath'. And team spirit has the upper hand over all the rest. Death ? Death is of little importance compared to intimate bonds like those we share. We have to remain grouped all together as long as we can, even if that means going to the other side all at once. We have been fighting so many aliens together, we have been helping each other up and saving each other's life every now and then, we have been working together in a strategy to counter our foes… That's what team spirit is about ! »

Chris couldn't remain mute on hearing such wise comments, so he started his own stuff : « Exactly so, Cath'. We have been united both in private life and in MBC missions. Always supporting each other, always there for each other. I've got your backs, you've got mine ! And that applies to everybody : each one backs up the other three ! So if _you_ are in trouble, we will do all we can to help you, like the caring teammates we are. We've faced so many dangers together : the Octovores, the Sticky, the Frogs, Wedge, the Pincher Bots, Prosgar, the Caveman, the Rocket Pig, Nosidda… even swarms of fierce insects ! So we are used to danger. Death is nothing more than a greater danger, but… we can handle it ! » The tech pronounced these last words in a very decided and encouraging tone, and his face lit up with a smile. He was obviously convinced that team spirit would prevail, whatever the nature of the obstacle. Human faith can be so communicative…

Cathy remained silent for a while, reflecting on all that had been uttered, on Friendship, on team spirit, on the possibility to deal with death. When they were speaking, it all seemed possible. It all seemed within reach. She knew that human will could be so powerful that it almost could move mountains, as they said. She still felt disappointment for not having the opportunity to save her friends, but she also felt something new dawn within her heart. Something bright and powerful. It was Hope's light shed over her fears.

She again gazed at the now smiling faces of her buddies. She could tell they had regained confidence now that they knew they wouldn't lose her. The fatal end lying ahead seemed not to worry them anymore. And she felt just the same : suddenly calm, collected, as if the strength of their bonds made everything possible, anything acceptable, even the ultimate scourge. That was peculiar : forgetting about the now close end of their existences. Did Love and Friendship, along with Hope, really have such power ? That could be a question to ask oneself, but the young alien now knew what the answer was…

« It's strange… » the pink member said « I don't feel any fear anymore. I still realize we're on our way to the final destination, but… I feel curiously cool-headed, and even… self-confident. How is that ? I don't have a clue, but your Love and Friendship certainly are at work here. I didn't suspect that these feelings had such magical influence over humans, but now I can see it and I understand. If we stay together, we will maybe all die, but we will die happy. If I had left, true you would have been spared, but would have had sad lives and only regrets for the rest of these. If we are happy until the end, then death is of no importance ! »

« Yes, that's the spirit, Cath' ! » Sam cheerfully let out. « You've got it all ! It will be over of us soon, but at least, we'll be all together and happy this way ! »

The stretchable girl answered to her best friend with a grateful smile. And she was about to add something when…

**« CRITICAL MASS REACHED – OVERHEATING OF PREMISES – DISINTEGRATION HAZARD »**

They all looked at each other and felt shadows of fear appearing again inside their hearts. The warning was serious now. The clubhouse wasn't very far from the sun now. If there was one last desperate solution to find, one they hadn't thought of yet, it was now or never !

Chris turned to the old Rhapsodian : « Mr. Smith, apart from Protocol ZX23, could there be any other last-resort procedure that could be activated to get Cathy cured ? Another spell ? Another technical possibility ? Anything ? » His tone was hasty, his eyes stared intently at the white-haired man. He wanted to believe in a forgotten key to open the exit door.

« Hum, let me think… I'll search my memories, but honestly, I'm not sure I can find something. Right now, I have no idea of any left-behind solution… » And he stopped talking to better focus on all available emergency processes. He even closed his eyes for that.

The four kids were also reflecting on the situation, doing their best to seek any option they would haven't figured out yet. Five intelligences at work, five brains in quest of the missing answer, five minds looking for the last piece of the puzzle, five hearts full of hope and courage. Was that enough to force open the gates of salvation ?

Time passed by, as in slow motion. The clubhouse worked its way towards the giant gas ball which enabled life on Earth but was now to bring death. And the five people inside that clubhouse were desperately invoking the magical help of memory or ingenuity to escape their doom.

A sparkle ! Deep within. A sparkle ! At last. A sparkle ! The one that would perhaps save the day. _Their_ day. God bless the last-chance sparkles !

« Mr. Smith… I recall Cathy once mentioning that Rhapsodians had the ability to chase parasites from their bodies by making their organisms so hostile that the parasite is forced to get out ! I don't know how that works, but… could Cathy manage to chase the alien traces this way, do you think ? »

The eyes of Hugo Smith grew so wide just at this moment. And his mouth slightly opened. He couldn't believe it. There it was ! The last possibility ! Brave Chris ! « But yes ! Yes, of course ! How could I have missed it ? You are right, my dear boy : that's something we can try ! I should have remembered it earlier ! Ah, poor memory than mine ! »

« Hey, don't blame yourself too much ! » Danny let out. « After all, you're not that young anymore, so your memory isn't as good as it used to be… with all due respect ! »

They all laughed when they heard this. Laughter… the sound of it hadn't been around for what seemed an eternity. It was more the sound of sobbing, lately. But Friendship and Hope had changed it all, and the eventuality of an « emergency exit » now eased it up. It was reassuring to hear all these laughters. MBC was on the right track again !

« Yeah, true ! I remember this ! » Cathy yelled with optimism. « I indeed said that to you, Chris ! It was this winter, I believe ! You're right, that's the last option we can take ! Oh, we gotta do quick : there isn't much time left ! »

« You're right, Cath' : we have to hurry, otherwise it's over with us in less time than we could tell ! Come on, we can still make it ! We can still save all of ourselves ! MBC can win this one as well ! Let's be positive and try this thing ! » Sam's voice vibrated with confidence again, and it was much more pleasing a sound than the doubt she had spoken with before.

Cathy suddenly paused as she seemed to be recalling something. And she appeared hesitant. « Hum, to make myself the most hostile possible, I need to change back to my alien form. Is that okay with you ? »

« But of course it is. Besides, we have already seen you in your alien form, when Nosidda came around and messed up aliens shapes. So no prob', right, friends ? » Danny asked. Sam and Chris nodded in unison and gave Cathy reassuring smiles. The latter smiled back and simply replied : « Okay then ! »

And the bubbly girl joined her hands, entwining fingers, and pointed her forefingers up to the ceiling. A bolt formed on top of these and grew larger, larger, larger… and the whole room was lit up for a while !

When the gigantic flash ended, Sam, Chris and Danny, who had turned away from the blinding light, looked back to their friend… and found the human gone ! Where a blond girl with blue eyes, wearing a pink and black suit, had been standing a few seconds ago only, there now was a pretty intriguing creature.

It was bigger than the teens, light blue with darker blue spots scattered every now and then on the body, long triangular ears, no nose but two holes in its place, two pairs of tentacles for the arms, one for the legs, a long tail that looked a bit like a fox's for the general aspect (furry-looking). The creature was pretty thin and tall, and the only outter sign who reminded of Cathy was its blue eyes.

« Well, there I am again… » the alien spoke up, and her voice was strictly identical to Cathy's. There were therefore two elements that were common to both the extraterrestrial shape and the human shape : the eyes and the voice. Not much indeed.

That's when the robotic voice filled in the control room once again :

**« OVERHEATING REACHING CRITICAL LEVEL – DISINTEGRATION HAZARD SOON TO THE MAXIMUM – DANGER – DANGER – DANGER ! »**

Mr Smith talked in a hasty voice : « Quick, Schloumba ! We're running out of time ! You have to make it on the first try ! You can't allow to miss : we haven't got enough time for a second attempt ! Come on, I know you can make it ! I trust you ! » And he gave his granddaughter a confident look and smile.

Cathy smiled to him and nodded, then looked in front of her, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It was all on her shoulders now. Their five existences were in her hands **(A/N : …or rather : in her tentacles, eh eh !)** and she was on her own this time. Her teammates couldn't be of any help in this particular situation. Everything was as stake in her own organism, and only her could have an effect over it. And the first attempt had to score : just like her grandfather had insisted on it, there wasn't any time left for a second one ! She had to make sure to pass quickly, otherwise it would be over of them all…

Her three friends and her grandfather were fixedly gazing at her, innerly praying that she would succeed in expelling the last alien residues, those tiny traces that were currently condemning them to their last journey. They relied on Cathy, but still felt a small core of fear resisting deep within. One only try… just one, not two… ONE attempt left, nothing else ! They all knew the young Rhapsodian would do her best to chase the residues immediately, but would her best be enough for that unique endeavor ? It was really a tight one, this time…

And then Cathy opened her eyes and arched her back. She began shaking uncontrollably, but her buddies ignored that this phenomenon was totally voluntary : making her body unstable was the condition she knew she had to comply with in order to make her organism uninhabitable for the alien parasites.

She started yelling on top of her voice, but it was a very hoarse voice she had, all of a sudden. She had actually changed her vocal range in order to sound more inimical. And with that, she began agitating her tentacles fiercely, yelling on hoarsely. Her moves became so swift and messy that she seemed to have lost control of her own body, and her companions feared that something unexpected – and very bad – was happening right now.

Sam took a step forward and held out her arm towards Cathy, but a hand was laid on her shoulder just in that moment. She turned to see Mr Smith staring at her with a serious look. He had guessed that the yellow member was worried for her best friend. « There's nothing wrong with Cathy ! She's simply doing her best to get rid of the alien presence hidden inside. Trust her, Sam ! » And with that said, he sketched a gentle smile. Sam stared back at him, then smiled back. Yes, she had to trust Cathy ! And she would, anytime !

**« DISINTEGRATION HAZARD MAXIMAL – OXYGEN LEVEL RUNNING LOW – EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO BE ACTIVATED – DANGER - DANGER – DANGER – DANGER – DANGER… »**

The hectic alien screamed a long, powerful, extended shout and opened her mouth wide. A tiny particle fell on the floor. It was mottled with several colours. And it was starting to move away !

« That's it ! That's the mass of alien residues ! » Sam shouted in the loudest voice. « Quick, get your blasters, guys ! » And the boys, following their leader, aimed at the miniscule thing trying to crawl its way out. Three shots reached the mass of colours almost simultaneously. The little foe was trap in a concentrated ball of energy. But still it resisted and refused to vanish from the room.

Cathy was exhausted from her efforts and was catching with her breath while looking at her teammates uniting the rays of their weapons to clear the alien residues for good. But it still didn't work.

So the blue alien took a look at her tentacle, where her human hand normally was, and she knew she had to help her friends. Maybe a fourth ray would put enough pressure on the micro-organism to make it explode ?

A few seconds later, once the flash of light was gone, Cathy Smith put her hand on her blaster and pulled it out from its holster. And a fourth shot joined the other three, making the energy ball that imprisoned the tiny enemy grow bigger. The fight went on, but the parasite resisted on and on.

**« DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER »**

The small colourful particle blew up with an horrible shrieking sound. Smoke raised from where it had been struggling for its salvation. The four teens stopped their blasters and looked at the place where the residues were, their eyes round with disbelief. Had they won, really ?

A line appeared at the bottom of the supercomputer, worked its way up and… Cathy's silhouette changed from multicolored back to normal !

**« ALIEN RESIDUES ELIMINATED COMPLETELY – QUARANTINE PROCEDURE RAISED – PREMISES UNSTABLE – EMERGENCY PROCESS NEEDED »**

« We made it ! We made it ! » Cathy cheerfully yelled. Her grandfather rushed to hug her : « I was sure you could make it, Schloumba ! I never doubted that ! My trust in you was intact ! You had to make so many efforts, but you succeeded ! I'm so proud of you, child ! »

« Phiew, yeah, many efforts, you said it ! Never been moving that much ! » And Cathy stuck out her tongue to mean she was exhausted from all her frantic moves.

« Quick, there's no time to lose ! » Chris energetically said as he ran to the supercomputer, quickly sat down and typed swifter than he had ever been in his entire life. A message quickly bipped on the screen, and the next minute, the information they all had been longing for was heard :

**« PROCEDURE OF RETURN TO BASIS ENGAGED – TRAJECTORY MODIFIED »**

And they could all feel the clubhouse move, then they all lost their balance to end up messed together on the floor. A gigantic humming sound echoed throughout the control room.

Outside, the piece of ground on which the building lay started a long but fast loop, escaping the boiling hot embrace of the sun to dive back into the cold depths of the stars. The clubhouse was now shooting straight back towards the third planet of the solar system, each second moving danger away from the humans who had looked at Death straight in the eyes. But once again, Hope, Love and Courage had countered the plans of the Grim Reaper. And Friendship was safe, and that was crucial. Friendship never dies !

**« OXYGEN LEVEL RISING – TEMPERATURE LOWERING – PREMISES STABLE – DISINTEGRATION HAZARD NULL »**

Those were even more positive words than before. They all had hated the mechanical voice from the very moment it had indicated that Cathy's curing had failed. But now, they were delighted to listen to it, as it brought always more encouraging news. The system had sounded like an enemy at some point, but it had regained a friendly aspect now.

« Waow, that was a close call, I'd say ! » Danny enthusiastically clarioned. « But well done to you Cath' for succeeding in one attempt. I admire you, really ! »

The bubbly girl bowed in a comic way. « Thank you, thank you ! True that it wasn't easy, but the main point is that it worked out ! I'm so happy ! Happier than I've ever been ! »

« Yeah ! And you see, Cath', we were right not to let go of you, weren't we ? » Sam pursued. « We managed to save ourselves, and you're still with us. Even more : it was YOU to save us all, while you were decided to leave moments ago. Bravo, Cath' ! And thank you ! »

Cathy smiled at her leader. « Well, you're welcome. And you're so right : it would have been the most awful mistake if I had left you ! Hum, you still would have been saved, but our friendship bonds would have been broken. Thanks for insisting that I stay with you ! »

Chris turned on his hovering chair and said : « I must say you impressed me, with all your efforts to chase that alien stuff from your body. I didn't suspect you could be that fierce ! It took a lot to pass, but it passed ! You've got all my gratitude, Cath' ! »

The blue-eyed girl chuckled. « Ah ah, I'm sure I must have been impressive, with all those hoarse yells and shaking. It was very demanding. I feel like sleeping for a full week now ! »

And all of them guffawed at this. Laughters again, laughters to celebrate their victory and proclaim Happiness's superiority over Fate. Sorrow was gone, doubts had been swept away, fear was but a memory, hesitation had ceased existing… Everything had turned bright all of a sudden, as if the sun had come out from behind the clouds. That same sun which may have brought their existences to an end…

Now was time for Happiness indeed, for Love, for Serenity, for Confidence. Now was time for Friendship. It had always been time for Friendship, this had never changed, but in this moment it was Friendship within Happiness, unlike before.

Mr. Smith hugged his granddaughter so lovingly. « I knew you would succeed in the end. You may look fragile, but you are stronger than it seems, Schloumba ! We all owe you life today ! I'm so proud of you, child ! »

« Grandpa, thank you so very much ! I'm happy like I've never been that we are all safe now. But please, Grandpa, stop calling me child : I'm a teenager, remember ? »

And once again, they all laughed in unison at this. And their joy had never been greater.

Sam gave a look at each one in turn and opened her mouth : « Alright, we'll soon be back home. Back to normality. Back to aliens. Back to holiday. Funny that this incident happened on the last school day… Well, we'll have two months ahead to forget it ! I don't know for you, but I'd be glad to bust a few aliens. Ah, can't wait to be back home for that ! Come on, Chris, lead us home ! » **(A/N : the leader asking someone else to lead, uh uh…)**

Then she stopped and looked confused. She remembered how Danny had joked on her habit to give orders and decide for them all. So she couldn't help checking the matter with her buddies : « Hum, I hope this wasn't too authoritarian for you… bad old habit of mine… »

Danny of course couldn't miss the line that Sam had just thrown him, so he came closer, stood between Sam and Cathy, hands on their shoulders, and exclaimed : « Well, normally, I would have said : yes, it was too authoritarian… but, given the circumstances, I'll just say that it's ok and we'll let it go for this one time, right ? »

He winked to Sam and turned smiling to Cathy. The two girls burst out laughing, so did he, and Chris finally joined in, while Mr Smith just laughed up his sleeve. And those laughters were the most delightful music to listen to, in the immensity of space, where a human building was shooting towards a well-known blue planet that soon was in sight…

**_T H E _ _ E N D _ **


	11. End Credits

**END / CREDITS**

**And there it was !**

**I need to thank each of those who reviewed, who congratulated me, who had a nice word, who expressed impatience for the sequel. Your words really went straight to my heart, dudes !**

**A word on reviews, though. For honesty's sake, I was rather surprised – and a tad disappointed as well, I must say… - to get so few reviews. 5 of them, while most of all the stories I read had far more posts than this. And after all, a review takes only 2 minutes, so it's not that much time, is it ? (that's my answer to the worn-out « i-didn't-have-the-time » excuse…)**

**So, 2 possibilities, I guess. Either my story was so bad that you didn't even want to write a single line of critic, or it was so good that you lacked words to express your admiration. (I hope for the 2nd one, obviously…)**

**Ok, no hard feelings though. Can I seriously hold a grudge against my buddies ? ^.^**

**I dedicate this story to MASTERMINOR and my YT friend METALZUKO, whom i got to know thanxxxx to GOODBYE EARTH !**

**All my gratitude for the time you granted to that story, for your enjoying it that much, and good luck with your own stuff.**

**Especially sweet hugs and big up to Joshua, Destiny, Ana, Gianell and Lauren ! You guys make my (every) day on FF !**

**Read ya later, Folks !**

**=) Léo (=**


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